Dec. 28-31/15: Christchurch, last 4 days

Well it's Dec. 31, the end of 2015, and also the end of my time in Christchurch, for now. I've spent the last  four days doing more  hiking/walking, and returning to the City Centre, which  is like a magnet, despite  the devastation.

I think the best way to describe what I've seen is with pictures, so here they are:

View of Diamond Harbour

(ferry ride from Lyttleton)

View from Victoria Park

(hiked there with airbnb hosts)

Sumner beach (above)

and clock tower (below)

Many homes on these hills were

 badly damaged in the quake

Shots taken in the city's gardens

- Mona Vale (above)

-Edmonds Factory Gardens (below)

I'll end with a few more shots of the City Centre

So many vacant lots  like this,

and containers used  to support 

facades they hope to retain

One of many abandoned buildings

Sign reads: For sale, as is, where is!

But things are happening!

Below  is  the new Bus

Terminal, which  is state of the art

And the Art Gallery  has  reopened,

just a week before I arrived

So Christchurch, which once had the feel of a 19th century English  city, is going to emerge as something quite different.

The shot below  gives you a sense  of the spirit here. It's on the side of the art gallery  and says: Everything's going to be alright.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Dec. 26-27/15: Christchurch (Port Hills, Hospital, Princess Margaret, more walks)

Boxing day morning my hosts invited me to join them  and some friends for a hike on the Port Hills, just on the edge of Christchurch.  The city (population about 340,000 by the way) is quite flat, but encircled by hills. The hikes I had done on my last visit were quite tame and I assumed this one would be as well. Not so! The climb was unrelenting, although it took only about half an hour to reach the top. Then it was straight down to the port of Lyttelton. The path  is called the Bridle Path, as that is the route the early European settlers (called pakeha, in Maori) took from Lyttelton, where  they  landed,  to Christchurch, their destination. The others in our little group who have done this hike often were still rather in awe of just how difficult  it must have been back in 1851 to negotiate  this route, which would obviously not have been cleared, carrying all their possessions, including furniture. I was puffing with just a  backpack. We stopped briefly in Lyttelton before heading back the way we’d come.

Views from the top of the Port Hills

In the afternoon I took a walk  through one of the residential areas just north of Hagley Park, not too far from my accommodation. That area too had been affected by the 2011 quake. There were many empty lots and many homes clearly  not occupied and awaiting ..... something. There are still some of the old cottage style homes that I find totally delightful, but those homes that have been rebuilt for the most part have been built in a much more contemporary style. It’s hard to get decent pictures of the homes as most are surrounded by high fences/walls. My hosts tell me that is a privacy , not a security, matter.

One of the little cottages

New construction, complete  with 

privacy fence

Today (Dec. 27), I took the bus to Princess Margaret  Hospital, at the south end of town; I am staying north of the city core. There are a few reasons why I wanted to see this hospital. One, my sister had  a work exchange there over 25 years ago, so I wanted to revisit her past. Also,  the  hospital is just beside the Heathcote River, so it seemed that it might be an excellent  walking  opportunity. And that  it was, as you can see from the pictures.

Princess Margaret Hospital

(this one's for you Pam)

Views along the Heathcote River

Dec. 24-25/15: Christchurch (Christmas down under)

The 24th was a transit day: 6 ½ hours on the Intercity bus from Dunedin to Christchurch. Not a particularly  inspiring ride, although I did get to see a fair number of grazing sheep, and a few coastal towns. My airbnb hosts in Christchurch  are delightful, a recently retired couple who immediately invited me to join them for Christmas lunch with their family. I have a bedroom, bathroom and sitting room in a private section of their home. All good.

Christmas morning I was able to go for my first jog since arriving here, in the botanic gardens. Can’t beat that. Lunch was excellent, with six of us in total, including a parent and two grown children.

Seemed to me that the logical thing to do next was walk to the town core (about 30 minutes), to see what Christmas in Christchurch looks like, and also to see how much rebuilding has  gone on since my last visit, in March. It’s clearly a slow process, but some things had changed. More cranes, and more construction. Apparently the insurance issues have only recently been resolved. Here are a few images of Christchurch on Christmas day, 2015. Never to look this way again. I hope someone is recording these changes, as the city is being redeveloped.

Decorations in the Restart mall 

(made of shipping containers),

with construction in the background

More construction, and some of 

the temporary artwork

The famous Cathedral, unchanged

as far as I recall

Dec. 22-23/15: Dunedin (Port Chalmers, art gallery)

My time in Dunedin is all but over. Yesterday (the 22nd) I spent most of the day either in cafes or at the Otago museum. The museum has some wonderful galleries dealing with Maori history and culture, with the area's  geological development   (and why the risk of volcanoes and earthquakes is so high), and with the birds and mammals found in this part of New Zealand. Here are two images I particularly liked:

Maori carving from 1870s

Skeleton of a Moa, huge flightless bird 

hunted to extinction (in 1400s) by Maori

This morning I took a local bus to Port Chalmers, about a 25 minute ride. Port Chalmers has a population of just 3,000 and was founded in 1844, a few years prior to settlement in Dunedin. It acts as the port for the city as it is closer to the mouth of the Otago  Harbour. There are several short, pleasant  walks around the town and up to a look off where there is an outstanding view of the town and harbour.

Town sign, painted on the side of a building

View of Port Chalmers from lookoff

Back in town I spent my last afternoon in the Art Gallery, which is located on the Octagon, Dunedin’s city centre. Some of the city's fine old buildings also surround the Octagon, as do a number of pubs and restaurants. So it is always lively.

Inside Art Gallery, looking out at the Octagon

Painting by local artist, Jeffrey Harris 

Robby Burns statue, gallery  just to left  

Dec. 21/15: Dunedin (Baldwin Street, beaches)

In the past few days the temperature has struggled to get to 20,  but today  it topped 30 and it was clear that’s too hot for  the locals I talked to. This was a one day wonder, however, as it’s returning to normal tomorrow.

This morning I headed off on foot – took just under an hour - to the world’s  steepest street, Baldwin Street. That’s according to the Guinness Book of World Records no less. At its steepest the slope is 19 degrees, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it  definitely is. Mind you, to me many of  the streets in Dunedin  seem equally as  steep. If it had  not already been close to 30 I might have climbed it, but I headed for the closest cafe instead.

The picture below was taken near Baldwin Street, not so much because I love  churches but because I love the white contrasting with the blue sky and because those houses way up just behind the church show just how steep the slopes are in Dunedin.

I then  bussed it  to the other end of town, as I’d  been told not to miss the salt water pool in St. Clair park. There I found that Dunedin  has beaches, long  ones, with beautiful white sand. This is a varied city! So I had my first opportunity to get sand between my toes, although the heat kept me from walking too far. The wind also was fierce, although this in ways was a blessing.

I walked back to the city centre and home so all in all walked from one end of the city to  the other today, about  10 km.. Not difficult most days but tougher when it is 30 degrees.  I’m done!!!

Dec. 20/15: Dunedin (train to Oamaru)

This morning I awoke early enough to realize that the sun rises now before 6:00 (at quarter to in fact). It's up until about 9:30, so lots of daylight! In their winter  (our summer), the sun doesn’t rise until 8:30, but also sets later than us, about  5.

I had decided I would take the train – the Seasider – for a seven hour return trip along the coast, to Oamaru. This included an hour’s stop in the town of 15,000. It’s reputed to have one of the most interesting streetscapes in the county , because  of the number of 19th century buildings made of local limestone.

One of Oamaru's limestone buildings

Trains are wonderful, and this was  no  exception. Lovely  views of  the coast, and hillsides dotted with sheep. Foxglove grow wild, it seems, beside the tracks, much as lupins do by the roadside back home. Although lupins are far more prolific.

View from the train

I’m loving the walk into the city centre and back from my “home” here. It starts off through the Town (green) Belt, and feels like a rain forest (admittedly with paved streets). Within 5 minutes I’m at the top of the town centre and in another 10 minutes right downtown. One street is so steep  they have had to incorporate steps. So, coming  back up is decidedly a workout. So much the better.

The climb through the "rainforest"

Dunedin has  such an old world feel to it, even though it was not  settled by Europeans until about 1850, long after they first came to Canada.

I’m guessing I will not  continue to  add to this blog as often as I have been, but who knows??

Dec.18-19/15: Dunedin (botanic gardens, market, settlers museum)

I awoke on my first morning feeling no jet lag at all. Hoping that continues! Decided to head first to the Dunedin  Botanic Gardens, as I’d loved them on my last visit. It was certainly no different this time. The gardens are enormous, and the setting fabulous. It takes about two hours to cover almost everything. They have a huge number of rhododendrons, which unfortunately were all but over. Some of the largest ones I had ever seen. Trees really, not shrubs. There is also a camellia collection, also past prime.

Trunks of some rhododendrons  

Rose garden

On the 19th I returned  to another place I’d loved last year, the Otago Settlers Museum. I’d been most impressed by the recreations of early life, and the pictures/stories of early settlers. Still was. There was a new exhibit this year, Santa, and a line-up of kids waiting to see him. Mostly scared and wanting to  escape. Santa is without question a kiwi, no disguising  that accent!

Saturday mornings there is a farmers market at the train station. I must say, the Wolfville market is much more impressive, even though Wolfville is a fraction the size of Dunedin. Perhaps that is why I found the produce in their supermarkets (big chains here are called New World, and Countdown) far less impressive  than ours, and much more expensive.

Christmas trees at the market

I can see that a day will not go by without a stop at one cafe, at least. As much for the food as the coffee.   Lots of vegetarian options: wonderful quiche  and frittata, always served with a yummy salsa. Hand-held pies are also very popular here, mostly not vegetarian. And the desserts are seriously  tempting. Great carrot cake. How did they know? As last year, these places  sadly close about 4:00 pm.

Otherwise, I walked, and walked. Uphill, and down, and up again. No choice. The area my accommodation is in is clearly pretty upscale. Some lovely homes, and landscaping. And, because it’s on a hill (what isn’t), the views are glorious.

Views near my "home" here

Did I mention how much I like kiwi accents?

Dec. 17/15: First day in Dunedin

I’m back! It’s so strange, feels in some ways as if I had never left. The trip was long but easy, thanks to my friend  Wendi getting me to the airport  the evening before, in driving conditions that would have kept me home. A night in the Alt  hotel made for a relaxing start to the trip. Four flights , first to Montreal, then 5 hours to Vancouver, 13 to Auckland and finally about 2  to Dunedin. Two Air Canada flights and two Air New Zealand flights. Air Canada would do well to model itself on Air New Zealand. On Air Canada you get a complimentary beverage, nothing else, even on a longer flight. Air New Zealand treats its passengers far better. And Air New Zealand has done a marvellous job with its safety presentations. They’re creative, amusing and they’ve hired personalities to appear in them. In this case surfers! Air Canada’s equivalent would put  anyone to sleep, if they paid any attention.

Even on the flight over I was hearing some of those wonderful New Zealand expressions: Kia Ora (welcome in Maori), mate, no worries.

Now I am settled into my Airbnb in Dunedin, and have a huge bedroom with adjoining kitchen and sitting area,  and a private bathroom. It’s just a block or so from the Town Belt, a green belt running through the city, and about 15 minutes walk from the city centre, the Octagon. Couldn’t be more ideally located.

My room

Outside of the house where I'm staying

Dunedin’s  small as cities go, about 125,000 and called the Scotland of NZ. It’s delightful and possibly  the hilliest city I have ever visited.

Dunedin  home on very steep hill

Highs here have been cooler than usual, about 15, but that’s not stopping the flowers. The rhodos and lupins (yes they are here too) are ending, and the agapanthus just beginning. I’ve also seen foxglove and clematis. I will miss the Pohutukawa, the NZ christmas tree (because of its red blossoms), as it is primarily a north island tree.

I haven’t yet felt the effects of jet lag, although I am starting to fade. I spent the day renewing my acquaintance with the town, having a NZ sim card put in my phone, and of course lunching at one of NZs fantastic cafes. It’s now 8 pm, and still light.

Trip route

2015-12-17: Arrive Auckland, take final flight to Dunedin (east coast of south island, about ¾ way down)
2015-12-17 to 2015-12-24: Dunedin
2015-12-24: Bus to Christchurch (east coast of south island, about ½ way down)
2015-12-24 to 2016-1-01: Christchurch
2016-01-01: Bus to Nelson (northern coast of south island)
2016-01-01 to 2016-03-31: Nelson
The next part of the trip I planned a few weeks before I left Nelson:
2016-04-01 to 2016-04-04: Paekakariki and Wellington
2016-04-04 to 2016-04-09: New Plymouth
2016-04-09 to 2016-04-15: Hamilton
2016-04-15: return home to Nova Scotia

New Zealand map, with route superimposed