Mid-summer solstice

Looking east to Taylor's Mistake

 The mid-summer solstice occurred in Christchurch on December 21 and it was for us and many others a very special event.  It was in fact a triple event that we will remember always.  The  longest day (sorry, the shortest day for you northern latitude folks), A full moon and a total eclipse of the moon beginning at 9:15 pm!

The light begin to sparkle in Christchurch

Ships lay at anchor off the coast.

We went up to a park high on the volcanic ridge separating Taylor's Mistake from Sumner and waited for events to unfold. As the sun set in the west, the clouds were illuminated with bands of gold and scarlet over CHCH.  A bank of clouds hung over the eastern sky obscuring the moon as it rose.  A couple of ships at sea were brightly lit and seemed to cast thee only light to the east.  We were gathered along the hillside. 

 Bob had brought his guitar and was playing and singing a few quiet songs as we waited.  There were many small groups assembled here and there talking quieting and waiting for a glimpse of the moon.  A few photographers stood with long lens pointing to the horizon hoping for a break in the low lying clouds.

Slowly the moon regained is post in the night sky.

The sky darkened.  We began to lose hope that the clouds would clear enough to see something, anything as the moon rose hidden by their cloak.  Then suddenly about 9:40 pm the moon cloaked in a rose-colored shroud pushed through the mist and showed itself.  

There was an audible breathe of joy and awe among the many gather on the mountainside and we watched it slowly climb into the heavens.  At first a dusty rose-colored disc shone dully on us, but soon a sliver of silver white light peeked from its edge and slowly grew as the minutes clicked by.

We quietly watch this phenomenon, savoringly the light flowing down on us and finally, when it was about three-quarters clear of the earth's shadow, we walked slowly down the hill in the moon glow and went home to a restful night of sleep.

A night to remember.

All shook up

Early yesterday morning (in NZ anyhow) I had just started talking to Bob on Skype when his video image visibly shook for a few seconds. "Another earthquake", he said nonchalantly. The second already that morning.  More were to follow.


On September 4 last year, just after 4am, Christchurch experienced a 7.1 earthquake.  Most adroit followers of world news knew of that event, which completely disappeared from the newsworthy radar within three days (I mean, J-Lo's romantic involvements are far more interesting than an earthquakes on the other side of the world!).  Since that initial quake there have been over 4400 (!!) aftershocks. If you want to see more about Christchurch earthquakes click here!


In the world of devastating quakes, the CHCH shaker created less excitement than most, not because of its force -which was pretty worthy of attention- but because there was no loss of life and only moderate damage.  Now it is still a BIG deal in CHCH because businesses and homeowners are still dealing with damage and cleanup.  Parts of the City Centre are cordoned off, many homes have been condemned and tourism has suffered. But because of conscientious adherence to building codes for over half a century most damage was minor.  Older brick buildings frequently lose their masonry cornices, tumbling bricks down into the streets, but, fortunately so far, few people have been standing below to watch the flying bricks.


That's not to say that the quakes aren't unnerving.  Every little shake sets people on edge. Yesterday was no exception.  The Christchurch Press ran an article about the level of anxiety in many Canterburians. So did the on-line news service Stuff.


I chatted briefly with an 82-year old resident while I was visiting the Christchurch Art Gallery about the scale and effect of the earthquakes.  She was mostly disturbed by the damage being caused to the old buildings, "that's our history".


She was personally not too anxious, "Heck, I'm 82, why should I be afraid of something falling on me?"

Braces added to the walls of the Museum blend into the motif of the building.

Some of the older buildings are still vulnerable and some may be lost.  The cathedral made it through the September quake fairly well (at least it was open when we arrived) but was fenced off when we returned from our road trip in January. I saw several historic buildings -circa 1880-90- that had huge steel braces holding up the exterior walls.  It seems that some, like the museum were retrofitted sometime earlier. But history is at risk, no doubt about it.

Steel braces on the old theater in Littelton hold the building's brick front wall in place.

The fear of earthquakes and the potential loss of historic sites are two additional factors affecting tourism.  Already the world economy and the weaker US dollar are  taking a toll. But if someone has the money to travel and has been thinking about New Zealand, it is still a grand place to visit.

Return from Wellington

After four days in Wellington we rose early on a Monday morning and began our trip back to Christchurch.  We had time to brew a cup of coffee (a challenge in the hostel as there may be dozens of tea pots but nary a coffee pot or a resemblance of one, but we were prepared, having two lovely French press cups for camper's from Bob) and pick up a lunch we had prepared the night before.  Our plan was to eat breakfast on the ferry -they have a cafeteria and our sack lunch on the train early in the afternoon.


We boarded a shuttle bus (NZ$3) and traveled to the ferry dock, endured the long queues to get our boarding passes and walked the long passage to the gangway.  Again we did not score window seats, but the weather was much more pleasant on our return than the windy voyage we had experienced  a few day earlier.  We claimed two of the reclining seats on Deck 7 with our jackets once the ship was underway and headed for the cafeteria.  


There was the usual array of sandwiches tightly wrapped in cellophane, neat rows of pricey, high calorie desserts and a few muffins to boot, but we had our intentions set on the "hot breakfasts": scrambled eggs, toast, rashers, potatoes. 


The letdown was staggering!  I ordered only the eggs and toast with a little butter.  The bacon looked more like slabs of fried fat.  The scrambled eggs proved to be one of the most disgusting things I ever ate without wagering money.  They had obviously began as scrambled egg, i.e., whipped up, but I think instead of frying them, they boiled them in water.  Whatever, it was a wet gooey mass that was difficult to masticate and swallow,  Water just oozed out of them as you chewed.  To make it worse, the water that had drained out of them on my plate saturated my toasts, changing them into soggy Dr. Scholl's.  


Travelers note: Bring your own food on public conveyances.


We ate our pastrami and cheese sandwiches along with some lovely fruit early that afternoon.  We did buy a couple of beers in the dining car  to wash them down.

Windy City

Having grown up in Chicago, I heard the title given my city often.  I remember one cold winter's evening when I was downtown and the wind was rushing up Washington from the lake -an experience that even made brass monkeys shiver.  It was many years later that I learned that the expression, "Windy City" was actually coined relative to the political wind associated with the lobbying efforts to make Chicago the home of the World Columbia Exposition and only secondarily meteorological in nature.


Based on my life experience, Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, easily captures the world title for Windy City.  Wind gusts up to 90 kph are not uncommon.  The city is situated between two walls of land which extend out into the bay creating a venturi effect as the wind comes in from the sea.  Once it blew me into the street while I was off balance.

Off to Wellington

Thursday we headed to Wellington via train and ferry.  The train ride was very nice: big panoramic windows to view the countryside.  Lots of hills and meadows at first usually inhabited by Sheep and cattle, some quite big dairy herds. 


When we finally touched on the coast just south of Kaikoura we saw the sea again in its full fury.  North of Kaikoura we began to see lots of fur seals on the rocks and boulders along the shore.


We transferred to a ferry at Picton.  The ride across the strait was about 3.5 hours.  Windy, windy, windy, but getting warmer.  We stayed inside the boat for most of the trip.  A pod of dolphins scooted along our side for a while and then dropped back to entertain others, I guess.  



 We took a shuttle to the YHA Wellington City hostel, which is very nice and set up our living quarters there for the four days we will be here.

Lord of the Rings

We are at the Kinloch Lodge on the east shore of Lake Wakatipu.  On the road to our lodge we were sure we were deriving on the same path that Frodo and his friends had to dodge into the brush to hide from the black riders.  For my taste, this was the most beautiful place we stayed and the nicest lodging.

Road to Kinloch

Across the lake

Possum Hunters Rendezvous

On New Year's Day we traveled to Glenorchy by way of Queenstown, a popular destination on Lake Wakatipu. Queenstown was bedlam.  It was as crowded with tourists as Fisherman's Wharf on a busy summers day -mostly under-30's with hangovers from the night before.  The actual population of this town is something like 3000, but on NYD it was more like 20,000!  We ate lunch in the park alongside the beach and then headed on to Glenorchy where we had reservations in a holiday camp.


When we arrived at the holiday camp we were appalled.  It was wall-to-wall with motor homes, camping trailers, tents and people.  By comparison, KOA would be an exclusive resort. The cabins we had reserved were about the size and structure of the utility sheds available at Menard's; ours had two cots, one at each side, and a small fold-down table in between.  A small frame building housed the "kitchen facilities", dining area and a couple of sofas for lounging.  These facilities would have been alright for 20 or so people, but there was a long queue to use either the food prep area or sinks for cleaning up.  


There were two bathhouses.  The one nearest our "cottage" had two sinks, two toilet stalls and two showers.  Needless to say, with over two hundred people using the facilities they were not tidy.  We cooked our supper on one of the grills outside and, as there was a change in the weather, ate in the rain.


Many of the "guests" had traveled from their home bases to be here for New Year's Eve and were still in a celebratory mind, staggering and shouting with beer bottles in hand.  One of our entourage dubbed the entire experience as a possum hunters rendezvous.  Not all of our fellow campers were snockered.  We chatted with some of them around the grills while preparing supper.  Bobby commented on how yummy the kebobs one fellow was fixing looked and he gave us some to try.  Another bushy bearded guy (he looked like a possum hunter!) had recently returned from the States and a trans-America motorcycle trip including a pilgrimage to S.  Another guy in a wheelchair 


We had unfortunately registered for two nights, but had no intention of staying a second if at all possible to find other accommodations.  This seemed like a somewhat tenuous enterprise as everyone in New Zealand was on official holiday for at least four days.  Alison and I went around  Glenorchy examining the lodging to see what was available, affordable and might meet our needs.  Nothing there!  We sat in the beer garden of one of the pubs to review our options over a pint.  The weather had broken and sun was showing off snow covered peaks to the north.  We searched our copy of the Lonely Planet Guide to New Zealand and found a listing for backpackers in Kinloch across the lake and about 25 km by road.