Month: February 2024

We spent our first day in the city of Christchurch walking around and getting acquainted with our surroundings. This is New Regent Street which was developed not too long ago as a type of outdoor mall complete with trams running through it.

Found this picture of New Regent Street in the “Quake Center”, a museum in downtown Christchurch. Not much activity on the mall this day.

Got to sit outside and see all the street action including a couple of musicians to entertain us. The sandwich is called a toastie. Like a grilled cheese of sorts. The iced coffee was just that but a few times I have ordered it a scoop of ice cream was added before blending it like a milkshake.

Instead of a walking tour of the city we opted for an all day tram pass. The conductor played the role of tour guide and filled us in on the local history and hot spots. The trams were very nicely renovated. Cool experience.

The city is doing a bang up job of reinventing itself after the earthquake in 2011 pretty much demolished the old city. Cool tram stops were located all throughout the central business district.

One tram stop left us at an indoor food court and shopping area. There was a large bar area for us to taste the local craft beer scene. Many of the area’s breweries came together to lease this entire space so once you get a beer you can wander freely throughout the building with it and leave your glass anywhere within the shopping center.

We found the locally brewed beer to be fairly good. We learned that an APA is an American Pale Ale. We figured we did not really need to sample that. The XPA is an extra pale ale and tasted somewhere between an APA and IPA. Great conversation with the guy tending bar who was part owner of the place. Lots of good recommendations for what to do on the south island. Also talked to a young couple from Tokyo, Japan for a while. He was a math major and she was in advertising. Just vacationing here in NZ for a few weeks.

Notice the guy with the backpack trying to gain some of the other folks hard earned cash. He did this not 10 feet from the signage on the right. Not sure whether to classify him as a beggar, a vagrant or a rough sleeper? What is a rough sleeper anyway?

One of the city’s most iconic cathedrals was heavily damaged 12 years ago in that devastating earthquake. So much work and red tape to get through before it can be reopened as a working church.

Click the above video to see the moment the quake hit the city back in 2011. Crazy!

Crazy amount of earth movement to cause these tracks to be so deformed.

Not only are the Kiwis adaptable to disasters like an earthquake but they seem to have a unique sense of humor regarding these things. When the plumbing/sewers were not up and working the city ran a kind of contest called “Show us Your Long Drop”. Homemade outhouses were made all over the city with the one with the longest “drop” winning the prize.

New Zealanders also have commemorated the event in a number of ways. Above find the wine called “The Day The Earth Moved Like Jelly”. The beer named “Aftershock” and a souvenir pair of “Aftersocks”.

As cyclists ourselves we are very aware of the dangers caused by rail tracks crossing a bike path. The diagram on the sign seems to be an accurate depiction of these dangers.

Not a half hour drive from the city is the Banks Peninsula. Alltrails came up with hundreds of cool looking hikes in the mountains and/or along the seashore.

This hike was at a place called “Taylor’s Mistake”. It is beautiful enough for folks to plan their weddings like this one getting ready to start. Hope the “mistake” in Taylor’s Mistake has nothing to do with the wedding?

As with many of the hikes in New Zealand, the trails are accessed by many right of ways through private property. New Zealanders have the expectation that if they want to walk the coast or along a river, they are allowed to do this. We did not see a single no trespassing sign during our 2 month visit.

This beautiful spot is situated right at the end of a dead end road. Beautiful spot for us to start our last hike of the trip.

Very appropriate for us to leave you with a final video of sheep being herded to market along the public roads. So cute!!

This one lane driveway to our off the grid cabin was only 1.7 miles long! Never did “run into” anyone coming the other way from the only house at the end of the road. Believe it or not, this driveway was wider than some of the public roads in New Zealand.

We kind of figured it was off the grid when we pulled up to the house and found a large array of solar panels and a whole lot of firewood. Some spit already for next winter and some not.

Next we saw a very small but tall wind turbine spinning wildly. As there is an incredible amount of wind in New Zealand, these should become more popular. The spinning action of the blades made quite a bit of noise but nothing that annoyed us. Just white noise in the background after a while.

A tank for collection of rain water over the wet months. The wooden cabinet underneath housed 10 lithium ion batteries for storage of the solar and wind energy. The solar panels were over 20 years old and still kicking but the wind turbine was a bit newer. The owner is actually able to charge here electric vehicle with the energy the sun and wind provide. I asked her why not just run a line from the road? She said the neighbors, many of them, would have all had to agree to “add” her on at the end of the current line. She said it was easier to simply supply the electric herself!

The hot water heater is one of those “on-demand” gas fired units. We were not too impressed with it trying to keep up with our small demand but many of the homes we have stayed in here in NZ had similar, but newer and usually electric versions. We see one in our future back home.

Here is a picture of our 3 bed and 1 bath cottage. It also had great wifi supplied by the satellite dish shown here. The other house in the back is the owners. She was quite the character and enjoyed chatting with us and her granddaughter Esther.

Cool picture of the view from our back porch. We were up high enough to be able to see the Pacific Ocean on a clear day.

On our drive to the cabin in what folks call “Hunters Hills” we ran into our first glimpse of a pig farm. Neatly arranged with plenty of room to roam these pigs had it made, well, until they were the ones being “made”. Tons of sheep, cows and deer but not many chickens or pigs in New Zealand.

We were told by our previous hosts that we had to go a few Kilometers off the main drag to a nice small harbor town to try the blue cod fish fry at the “Fishwife” restaurant on the shore.

Once again, the blue cod did not disappoint! Wish we could get some of that back home in the States. This was our third round of fish and chips so far and it was also the best.

They did not have any seating inside but the view from the bench outside was very peaceful. Most of the boats here are used to go fishing for the elusive blue cod.

We started by driving up a cool mountain pass from the city of Christchurch to the Banks Peninsula. Alltrails came up with at least a half a billion cool looking hikes on the peninsula so, as usual, we wished we had more time to explore. The hike was called “Gibralter Rock” and gave us a nice workout with views like the one above.

We had to do some scrambling to get up to the top of the rock so to speak. The views were awesome as usual. Notice no sheep in the fields. This is very rare around here.

This hike was interesting as it had views from the top of a mountain as well as what we would call “regular” hiking that took us into the bush and along a nice stream for quite a while. The bush was a welcome sight as the sun gets devastatingly intense in New Zealand.

Had to take a picture of this signage on our way out of the bush part of the walk. Seems pretty random but New Zealanders take their fire danger very seriously. Never would have thought people would go out hiking, trying to commune with nature while lighting up a cigarette?

Caught Laurie trying to grab a few minutes of shut eye up here on top of the world. It was so peaceful a nap would not be out of the question!

In search of what locals call “A Puffer”, or a hike that gets you breathing hard, we found a dead end road with a kiosk describing a nice hike up the hills for a good view of the lake. The water was once again, a fabulous color and it was warm enough for Laurie to don her summer shorts.

As we are now becoming veterans of the New Zealand driving scene, this sign was not only not a deterrent but a big “welcome to an adventure” advertisement.

This fabulous road wound along the lakeshore for almost 12 miles. Very rarely was there a guard rail and many times the drop to the lake was at least 50 feet. No oopsies here!

We figured that were there is a cattle stop sign, there should be some cattle to get a moo-on with.

Who is speaking the more fluent NZ cow language? Me or my friend? Fabulous creature!

If you look closely you can see the road winding along the shore. The hike up a farmers path was a good workout but no views for pics and the wind almost blew us off the mountain. All in a good days hike.

It took us a half an hour to reach the trail head for this hike from our Airbnb situated in the middle of nowhere. Scenic Reserves here in New Zealand are akin to our state and national forests and wildlife refuges back home. We had no idea what beauty laid ahead of us on this 5 mile hike.

This hike reminded us at times of walking the trails back in the Northeast of the States. Looks almost like a black and white photo but I promise, it is in color.

Found this picturesque spot about half way to the summit. Gorgeous valley and clouds in the blue sky!

The going got a bit rough after a while but nothing we could not handle. Nice to walk up this natural rocky staircase rather than the usual manmade stairs that New Zealand has become famous for (in our minds anyway).

Made it to the faux summit and had to step out onto a ledge for a closer look at the scenery. Laurie is flashing the peace sign for some reason. Peace and out brother.

Cannot believe the diversity of scenery around here too. The Pacific Ocean is pictured behind many layers of farmed hills and rows of hedges which, for this life of us, have no purpose. Realizing we were not yet at the top we were excited to keep going.

Back downhill on those famous NZ stairs. Always seems like after one false summit you must go back down a ways before regaining the altitude, and more, later.

Notice the pressure treated step installed long enough ago that this tree has engulfed it with its root system. The orange triangle on the thinner tree is the equivalent to a colored blaze marking the trails back home.

What a surreal hiking experience this was. Great scenery inside the bush and outside too.

After hiking downhill for a while we reached a stream with a sign that read “waterfall 5 minutes –>” Of course we wandered in that direction in search of some beauty.

This spot and waterfall were definitely worth capturing a video. Enjoy.

We don’t recall ever hiking away from a waterfall to get a view of the same falls through the canopy of trees. Somehow, all felt right in the world at this point.

The sign said the trail headed straight up to the summit. Guess we will give it a try. Most trails are easier to walk than they appear once you get started. I wonder sometimes when Laurie is asking me to pose for a picture whether she is procrastinating or not?

Definitely not as strenuous as it looks but they did install some handrails here and there as one wrong move and you were kaput. This is the first time we have found a trail with a safety feature here in New Zealand.

We finally figured we were at the summit when Laurie spotted an even higher point.

I sent her to scout it out. Boy were the views from there out of this world!

We felt for this poor hairy tree as it had been a good three months since our last haircut. We have seen rocks in the Catskill Mountains that seem to need a haircut but not a tree like this.

This little guy got about as close to us as a bird has ever when we are not eating or near a place where folks had eaten before. Very cool that it almost jumped onto my outstretched hands. Nice way to end a fabulous day of hiking.

A short hike around the Kelvin Peninsula near the city of Queenstown produced views like pictured above.

Our drive into Queenstown each day from our Airbnb in Cardrona was spectacular. Not often in life one gets to enjoy the drive to a destination about as much as the destination itself.

The last portion of the drive involved a series of ludicrous switchbacks. While I was driving I did not have the ability to properly enjoy the scenery so the pictures Laurie took helped me get a greater appreciation for the area.

Our walk around the peninsula started out just like many other walks with a nicely maintained trail through a picturesque and lush landscape.

The meandering path was also home to a number of sculptures installed within the last decade. The one above blends in with the forest nicely.

The path also crossed an open golf course. As we avoided getting beaned by a stray ball we ran into this nice sculpture that reminded us so much of all the windswept trees on the island.

Another sculpture doubled as a nice bench to relax on and one to use as a focal point for some nice pictures.

NICE VIEW!!!

Our last set of sculptures were these 3 mountain goats. As we rounded the corner and got our first view, we thought they were real for a second.

Although the hiking loop was near a large city, there were no other folks around leaving us to enjoy the peace and serenity of the lakeshore.

The crystal clear water allowed us to see some really neat striations on the rocks. The constant erosion caused by the waves over the years created this beautiful scene.

We only wondered for a wee moment about why they would have a used RV for the purpose of “race control”. The trailer was parked on the property of the Wakatipu Yacht Club so they must be referring to sailboat races?

After a nice hike it is always good to “get a feed on” as they say in New Zealand. The famous hamburger joint in Queenstown is a place called Fergburger. We had been hearing about it since our arrival in Auckland.

It was what Kiwis call “takeaway only” meaning they had no seats inside to eat at. We asked for take out at a number of places in NZ and got the craziest looks from folks until we remembered it was takeaway. The line was about 30 deep outside the shop when we got there and an employee told us that was not very busy and it should only be about 15 minutes for our order to be taken.

I had the Ferg Deluxe and Laurie had the Fergburger. When in New Zealand you go for a Fergburger and when in California you go for an In-N-Out Burger.

Not a chain restaurant as this location was all they have in New Zealand. There are no plastic straws or utensils at any restaurant locations in NZ as they evidently do not want to contribute to the problems of plastic and microplastics in the oceans.

This huge pine tree was planted here back in the 1800s in front of the then newly constructed courthouse. Its original purpose was to give some shade to the folks waiting for their cases to be heard in front of a judge.

On our drive back to Cardrona and our Airbnb we did what we have done many days while in New Zealand. We parked the car and walked to a secluded beach to do some reading. Cannot get any more peaceful than that eh?

This little gem of a distillery was located right across the street from our condo. They offered tours at $25 with the ability to put that $25 toward a purchase at the end of the tour if you liked the product.

The barrels they age their Scotch in come from all over the world and made with many different types of wood. During their opening back in 2016 they ran a promotion where you, or a group, could purchase an entire barrel of spirits. Sounded great until we learned the price started at $20,000 NZ! Hope it turned out good.

Boy did I like the product. All their spirits, from vodka and gin to single malt Scotch, were brewed from the same mash coming from barley. Never heard of barley being used in distilling. It was absolutely fabulous though. Note the percent alcohol is 47%. Gin that is sold commercially in NZ is 37% by law so this was a bit different. Some of the single malts I tried were upwards of 65% or 130 proof.

One day our drive was to take us 3 hours so we added a few minutes to side journey down to this river flowing out of the Southern Alps. Fabulous color and a nice steep hike to boot.

A view of the bridge we had to drive over to start our hike. This bridge was like many here in New Zealand, one lane. Folks around here are used to it so no big deal. So few cars around that in the 2 months we were there we only had to wait twice for oncoming traffic to clear the bridge. One side is designated to have the right of way with signage clearly marking that. Some of the bridges did have a pull out spot in the middle in case people became mindless of their situation.

The stump of this old tree provided a nice photo op as well as a respite from the intense sun.

The other side of the dead tree. Rock art or graffiti? The markings were actually made in hard dirt so an irrelevant question but we have learned recently that as long as the markings are over 50 years old, it is called historical rock art.

Check out the demarcation line between the cold water on the right and the sandy beach to the left. Beautiful backdrop here as well.

Our next detour on our drive was to the coast and “Dashing Rocks”.

The rocks indeed were being dashed by the waves. This one just happened to get me a wee bit wet. Laurie missed that moment by just a second.

Not sure what a slumpage is but not even the spell check likes the name. I guess the picture on the placard is worth exactly 5 words.

We have passed by many rugby pitches, cricket fields and football (soccer) fields but had to stop and take a picture of our first lawn bowling center. Looked like a cross between bowling and curling?

Strangely enough, on that day we also walked by our first croquet pitch. The sign out front said “if you are watching, come in and give it a try”. Sure enough an elder gentleman came over and asked us if we wanted to play. We begged off for some reason or another but, as usual in NZ, we did have a good 10 minute conversation about this or that. Nice fellow.

Our Airbnb host said we should visit the Valley of the Moa. A moa is an extinct flightless bird akin to an emu or ostrich. When the Maori people canoed over to New Zealand from Polynesia about 600 years ago they hunted them to extinction here in this valley. Love the stipulation that there are to be no visitors during lambing and calving season.

A picturesque valley to hike through with cool limestone cliffs on each side.

A view of some of these cliffs. We saw what we thought were bats flying in and out of the caves along the cliff walls. Thought bats came out at night?

We saw a small sign that said “Maori Art” with an arrow up a grassy hill. When we got there we found some dark smudges on the wall that was fenced of with chain link. Not as impressive as the rock art at Mesa Verde but interesting anyway.

We will wrap up this post with a picture of New Zealand’s largest supermarket chain. Most are named “Countdown” but the company is changing its name to Woolworths. We wonder if it has any connection to the old department store back in the states that has been out of business for quite a while.

We took a nice hike along the coast and quickly realized we were walking the same trail that starts/ends up at Cape Reinga at the northern tip of New Zealand called Te Araroa

Memories of hiking the Appalachian Trail. 3000 kilometers is about 1860 miles.

Laurie looks like she is having a fabulous time! This place is called Lookout Point. The views were stunning.

I may look a bit less enthusiastic but, boy was I happy to be on the coast of New Zealand for another awesome hike.

A very sad placard was placed at Lookout Point especially the 7 year old dying of hypothermia in his father’s arms.

On our way back up the trail we ran into a trail maintainer. We stopped and chatted with him for a moment about all things trail related then thanked him for his service. Not sure if he was a volunteer or not but the sentiment is the same either way.

A nice passer-by snapped this photo of us under a sign very similar to the one at Cape Reinga in the north.

Not sure where all these places are but, they are all pretty far away.

On a cooler and less sunny day we opted to walk around the rocky shores of the bay. Cool little lighthouse we ran into.

The rocks were not slippery at all and the timing of our visit corresponding to low tide allowed us lots of room to explore.

A quick drive up Signal Hill followed by a walk up to the viewing platform gave us nice views of the entire town of bluff. The port was bustling with activity most days with the unloading of a cargo ship and the unloading of tourists from a cruise ship.

Gotta tell you, it was really windy most days in New Zealand. We almost got blown off the platform the wind was so strong!

We had to get up at 5 am to catch low tide in order to view the ship graveyard. At first we thought it was an area that was dangerous for navigation, hence, all the ship skeletons. Come to find out it is simply a spot that folks or companies discarded their old and useless ships.

Here is a picture of the ribs of an old ship along with some sort of metal container it was carrying when it met its demise.

The kiosk for this dead ship said that the pile of rocks in the middle was actually the ship’s ballast and are still there a hundred years later. Cool to think they were in use during the 1800s.

At first I was going to call this a US Geological Survey marker like you find at the summits of mountains back home but…..NOT. Being in New Zealand we assume their Lands & Survey Department is a similar organization.

Had to mention the public restrooms during one of these posts. NZ is incredibly good about providing restrooms for the public in just about any place you might want one. They are also kept in immaculate condition. There was a light system to tell you if it was vacant or occupied and when you entered the door automatically locked and music started to play. This one had nature sounds to assist with you needs.

Also thought it appropriate to mention an oddity on the roads in most of the country. Except for the busiest spots in the larger cities, there are no stop lights and very few stop signs. Most intersections had one road with their version of a yield sign. No more tickets for that “rolling stop” we all do on occasion.

We will end this post with a picture of the working barometer that was hanging on the wall at our Airbnb. Curiosity got the better of us and we opened a door on the back only to find the instructions on how to read it. Guess these are obsolete now with the advent of the weather people on the evening news.

Oh my was this a beautiful spot. A bit of exercise too as it was over a mile to weave our way down the newly constructed path to the beach. The up was well graded but, as a local just said, “it was a puffer”. As usual, the beach got its name from what you saw, a tunnel. More on that later.

The waves turned this sea kelp into what we likened to a car wash with its brushes swishing back and forth.

I saw a sperm whale and Laurie saw an old man’s face much like the old man of the mountains in NH. It was a sad day when it collapsed a few years back but it appears he was reincarnated here.

We had no idea the beach was called Tunnel Beach because there was literally a hand dug tunnel through the mountain down to the beach. Wild!

We knew this would be an adventure when we saw this signage. We love the idea that just because something has potential danger involved their government does not simply shut it down. Again, much like New Hampshire.

As we were visiting at lowish tide we had quite a bit of beach to explore. Amazing that so many things to see and do here are tidal specific.

Cool little cave to explore. Almost got wet going in as the tide began to come in. Our trusty hiking boots kept us dry.

Laurie is dwarfed by another “old man of the mountains”. Can you see the face in that huge limestone rock?

Never did have the urge to be a rock climber but I figured this one had to be stood on.

Tides coming in so it’s time to vacate the beach and head on to another adventure. What a cool tunnel. Cannot believe someone did this without those crazy tunnel boring machines used for the highways these days.

Off to what is called Seal Beach. We figured there would be some cool wildlife to view there. We were not aware that these beasts actually climb out of the water and waddle quite a long way inland.

The path down to the beach was quite steep and sandy but no problem with a bit of time and care. At least if we took a tumble it would be on sand and not rock!

The sign at the carpark said to stay 20 meters away from these creatures. We did not bring our tape measure and even if we did it is not ticked off in metric. He is actually yawning here and not upset. As soon as I snapped this picture he plopped back down in the sand and continued his nap.

We counted 7 seals napping on this day. Should that be part of the 12 days of Christmas tune? These did not move even though we were making a bit of noise.

It was a rather windy day and when the surf rolled it the white caps and their splash were blowing horizontally. Not sure you can see it here but it is a nice scene anyway.

We thought it pretty cool that the “flipper prints” were still visible in the sand.

Did not get to see any of the odd looking penguins today but a picture of the kiosk was interesting enough. They stay out feeding in the ocean all day and come into the beach to sleep at night.

We learned the differences between a New Zealand seal and a sea lion this day. Allan Beach had sea lions that were quite a bit larger than a seal and had a mane of fur on the top half of its body. Both species seemed particularly lazy to us. Not a single sea lion moved for us today.

They try to cover themselves in sand to keep the flies at bay while they nap. Did not hear any snoring from this soul.

Our accommodations near Dunedin was this Tiny Home. Really cool place with really nice hosts to boot. Spent some time comparing notes between our tiny home and this one as well as all other things NZ vs. US. They even invited us to their place on a nearby river to use their kayaks.

The downstairs was actually fairly roomy. Complete with a dishwasher and washing machine.

Upstairs was a nice sitting room and a queen size bed. I did have to duck before I covered when getting into bed.

Laurie is muscling her way up river, against the tide and into an extremely stiff head wind! Click above to view her in action. So nice of our hosts Greg and Angela to allow us to use their boats. These are smaller boats than we are used to but we found them very responsive and much lighter to carry.

From the farm………..

To the grocery store!! The only deer we saw on either of the two islands were in the fields being raised on farms and in the store.

These birds are huge. Never mind the fleece jacket in the middle of summer here, check out the huge wing span of the albatross as I am 6 foot tall.

Caught this bird in flight. So majestic. The smaller looking birds on the ground are also albatross but they are curled up on their lone egg of the season hoping their mate will return from feeding at sea for up to a week at a time. We did witness one “change over” when the mate returned and took its turn on the egg.

This young pair is courting. Not sure if it is the male or female that is showing off but they do mate for life so being careful in the selection process is important. Our guide, who knows all these birds by name, said there have been a few divorces over the year but not many. The birds raise their young for around 10 months before flying to the coast of Chile in South America and living it up there for over a year before returning to this same breeding ground. Albatross only visit land to breed once every two years, otherwise they stay at sea and rest on the water from time to time. Fabulously interesting species.

Looks like a match! Notice the other pair of adolescents too. Quite a few pairs. They are the ones doing most of the flying for our pleasure.

This adolescent bird gave us quite the flying exhibition. Click the link above to check it out for yourself.

The road out the peninsula to the Albatross Center afforded us many stunning views. The roads are so narrow and without guard rails that it was tough to find a spot to take a picture like this.

Took this picture from Lookout Point in Dunedin. It is the ridge we had to drive along to get to the Albatross Center. Could have driven the only other road which runs along the coast, but we will save that for a bike ride tomorrow.

This is Dunedin from the Lookout. One of the nicer cities we have found in New Zealand. With these surroundings, how could a city be anything but fabulous?

A picture of windswept trees along the road to the Albatross Center. No that is not a one lane road! No center strip either. Curves in the road are aplenty too. You really rely on the skill of the other drivers to stay safe around here.

As the Albatross Center is actually a retired New Zealand military fort we got to tour the fort and museum in the same building we observed the birds from. The Russian ship above was the reason for the fort’s existence. The Governor of New Zealand was invited on board the Russian vessel. He noticed that that one ship had more weaponry than the entire country of New Zealand. He decided to ask the British Throne for the resources necessary to defend itself. The Throne said no but did agree to sell them some armaments.

This “disappearing gun” was purchased along with 3 others. It gets rotated into position, raised up through the hole in the roof and fired before lowering it back down. Never was used in a war setting but was fired a few times when the soldiers thought they were being attacked by submarine. Turned out only to be sea kelp. The kelp is very large around here.

The spotter outside would relay the position of the enemy and the gun would be rotated to the corresponding number of degrees labeled on the wall above. The red line painted told them not to fire in that range no matter what as the shell would hit the lighthouse!

Here is one of the shells the gun would use. We were allowed to move it around a bit but at over 100 pounds each that was no easy task. They had piercing shells like this and explosive ones too.

On the way off the peninsula we were treated to a showing of black swans. Cool creatures in their own right.

The last stop for the day was Baldwin Street. The steepest street in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

After visiting the street we had to verify this sign and it was indeed correct.

Not as hard to walk up as it looks but steep indeed. I installed an app on my phone to measure the angle of inclination and it came up at 19 degrees. That translated into a 35% grade (using the tangent ratio….who said math is not useful in the real world?). In the states, the National Park Service will only allow its trails to be certified if the grade is less than 10%. The Mount Washington Auto Road is an average 12% grade with a maximum of 25%.

Another day, another adventure or two. Long walk down the steep hill to find a cold beverage to celebrate!