The new city and the old volcano

Ladies and gentlemen, our 20th blog post! And we start with a shout out to Becky for running and finishing the London Marathon in less than 4 hours, while we were sleeping. (In fact I did wake up at 3am and refresh the tracker to make sure you'd finished #dedication).

Dawn over Fendalton, Christchurch

Last week I worked for two days in Meridian's Christchurch office, with lunch both days at the excellent Oddfellows Cafe (recommend it if you're in Chch!) and relaxing evenings staying at Diana and David's. Roger joined us on Friday evening for a delicious meal (including late boom raspberries) and we asked and heard first hand about the earthquake(s), aftermath and ongoing rebuild and regeneration work. We therefore had some local perspective as we walked round the city centre on Saturday.

We started at the 185 empty white chairs memorial for those who lost their lives in the quake; from a bar stool to desk chair to child's carry cot, each chair is individual. Nearby is the  'cardboard cathedral', an elegant and light building, and the sobering site of the CTV Building, where 115 people died. We walked on to Christchurch Cathedral. One end lies collapsed still, grass growing on the rubble. The decision on what to do with the Cathedral is crucial for the rebuild of the surrounding area.

The Re:start shipping container mall was a more cheering sight, with clothes and boutique shops, food stalls and buskers. We also visited the excellent Art Gallery to see the famous Canterbury landscapes and some more mixed modern pieces. After lunch at Re:start we wandered the botanical gardens but were not allowed to punt the Avon independently, according to the blazered, boatered punt tour guides. 

Akaroa Lighthouse, moved to the town from the harbour heads

We drove out to the Banks Peninsula on Saturday afternoon in low cloud and rain with the forecast not predicting much better. We arrived at Onuku Heights farm at dusk, following successful navigation of two creeks on the hillside track, where Roger's friend Anna's Dad Jack greeted us. A beer or two fuelled a joint effort on dinner: delicious venison steaks cooked very rare, with caramelized onion and mushrooms, mash, broccoli and homegrown carrots. Pinot noir washed it down and cheese and apples from the orchard followed. 

You can see Onuku Heights farmhouse

A perfect mix of farmhouse homeliness, elegant furnishings and modern local art, it was only the next morning that we fully appreciated the house's stunning view out across Akaroa Harbour. Not a cloud in the sky!

The three of us set off to walk the new one-day Skytrack - a must-do if you visit Akaroa. It climbs up the side of the old volcano's crater, following the Banks Peninsula Track at its highest point, around the rim (with a side trip to Stony Bay Peak) and then descends into Akaroa town. The views are spectacular. We were lucky to have Jack as our guide on flora and fauna, farm practices and local personalities. A confused solo tramper was also lucky to have Jack to authoritatively assure him that we were correctly going the 'wrong' way and not to follow us (he was on the longer BP Track).

Stony Bay Peak

I was trying out walking with a pole, which was particularly good on the steep way down off Stony Bay Peak. It was also put to good use rescuing a hat belonging to an Argentinian, avoiding a precarious rescue mission by her less-than-athletic looking friend.

Picking up the car back in Akaroa, Jack drove us along the scenic route that we missed in the rain the evening before. The evening light was golden on the hillside and harbour. In a second show of great teamwork we created steak with sesame-and-lemon rice, silver beet from the garden (divine) and apple crumble for pudding. We hope there was still some crumble for when Jack's wife Charlotte arrived back this week!

On 25 April 1915 the ANZAC forces landed at Gallipoli, and on 25 April 2016 we remembered them and others who have fought in wars across the world. We went to the very well-attended Akaroa Anzac Day service in sunshine at the war memorial. A guest superintendent policewoman gave the address, and used the swift arrival of the Australian police force to help after the Christchurch earthquake as a recent example of the ANZAC spirit living on. Sixth formers from the high school read out short accounts of local men who'd given their lives (106 from Akaroa). There was the traditional Last Post and Reveille bugles, and wreaths from all three forces, the RSA and the Brownies & Guides. We sang two hymns, God Save the Queen, Advance Australia Fair, and finished with a heartfelt God Defend New Zealand. Then we could all place our poppies in two sand pits on the steps.

Okains Bay

After goodbye and a big thanks to Jack we drove to Okains Bay for a walk on the beach and short coastal track to sweet Little Okains Bay. We will have to return for the Colonial and Maori Museum, which requires several hours! We took the Summit Road back towards Christchurch, and climbed Gibraltar Rock as the sun was going down, the outline of the Southern Alps on the horizon. 

Our final stop was in Halswell, to debrief with the West Coast biking crew: Trish and Andrew, Mark and Katie (and Mia the dog, although she's not anatomically capable of riding a bicycle). We compared weekends over fish and chips, and even managed to catch the end of the ubiquitous reality tv show, 'the Bachelor' (whilst agreeing what a terrible programme it is). 

Back to reality on a 7am JetStar flight into Wellington Tuesday morning. On the plus side I had all my tramping snacks available at my desk during the day, and Roger discovered his work provides free plunger coffee!

Gibraltar Rock selfie

Next time: two football matches and Roger does a 'Crazyman' race. 

A ‘relaxing weekend at home’

With sand from the Abel Tasman still a textured art installation on our floor, and a trip to Christchurch on the immediate horizon, this weekend we opted to chill…although it turns out it takes quite a bit of stamina to do nothing for two days.

Dora was the first to crack, popping out on Friday evening for dinner with those members of her football team over the legal drinking age. A plan was hatched for wine tasting the day before their match in the Wairapa (due to the area's excellent vineyards), with appropriate recovery time built into the evening, including watching She's the Man and Bend it Like Beckham.

I was the next to buckle under the pressure the next morning, getting up early to cycle up to Makara Mountain Bike Park with Tim, a fellow Brit. Turns out he’s better at cycling up hills (and down them, and on the flat) than me, so I had to dig deep to not embarrass myself, grimacing and nodding silently to conserve oxygen as he engaged me in friendly conversation.

No wire rack yet

[Dora] I made like a 19th century wife and went to the Thorndon Farmer's Market for groceries and to the second hand shop for odds and ends for the house, including a baking tin, some novelty egg cups and a copy of Persuasion. I then made oat and raisin muffins in the new tin in between reading Persuasion in a reclined position. 

[Roger] After an hour of lunch-time recovery I then headed to football with Wellington United Elite, a Sunday-league-esque team who ‘take football seriously for 90 minutes and socialise seriously for several more hours...’.

We won the game easily, despite my best efforts, by which time my legs were complaining at the lack of forewarning they’d received of this ‘relaxing’ weekend.

I drank some beer to quieten them down, but having miscalculated the depths to which my alcohol tolerance had plummeted was fairly unconstructive with dinner preparations [Dora: luckily 19th century wife had it covered - we had stir-fry].

Once I’d become a little more sober, we went to see a film that was anything but. ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ is a hilarious comedy with a heart-warming, genuine streak that is the perfect introduction to kiwi humour. See it if you can! Given the scarcity of ‘degrees of separation’ in New Zealand, I knew someone who was related to one of the cast members, who held her own alongside that guy from Jurassic Park.

On Sunday it was Dora’s turn to play football, whilst I headed to the recycling centre and Pak N Save.

[Dora] We were coming into this game having lost our first two games of the season. The opponents, Petone, won the league last season. It looked tough. However with a big squad, determination and a focus that saw us passing accurately, shutting down their tactics early and playing our game, we won 4-0! I came on as a sub 25min in, and felt really good running the wing, particularly trying some indoor-football twists and turns to escape their players.

We then met with Barry, a kiwi friend of ours from dragonboating, and had iced coffee and chocolate in the sunshine (though slightly shortened by one of his children falling face-first into a metal bar and loosening some of his front teeth).

Next week - Christchurch!

It's a tough life, beach after beach...I think I have beach fatigue

Last Friday evening we packed our packs once again and jumped on a (thankfully Air NZ-operated) flight to Nelson, where we met James for the final trip together of his elective: the Abel Tasman Coastal Track.

Here we go!

After a night in a luxurious '5-bed dorm' (real feather duvets!) we pitched up at Kahu Kayaks for first day on the ocean. The kayak chap was a true kiwi bloke. He wore gumboots and thick socks which were removed for the safety demo, during which he walked calmly around on the spikey gravel in bare feet. His dead pan sense of humour was lost on the mainly European other kayakers, and possibly surpassed only by the water taxi driver on the way back, whose description of the seals he practically collided with went "These are all mothers and pups. You won't see the boys down here now. They came down, knocked up the girls, then buggered back up to Separation Point. Har har."

Watering Cove

The first day we kayaked. We pulled our craft up onto several deserted white sand beaches, James made friends with a bird on a log, we met the seals for the first time on Adele Island, Roger rode the single kayak through gaps in rocky areas until he got beached, I found a starfish (possibly dead) at Watering Cove, and we all made it safely to Anchorage. 

Anchorage, a wide sweep of golden sand with yachts and a floating backpackers (Aqua Packers), has a very modern DOC hut with an interactive information screen run on solar power, but no hot water. We bagged some bunks and had a long dinner, tea, wander, chat and stargaze on the beach, watching people, boats and kayaks come and go as the light dimmed. We saw Jupiter, Sirius and Canopus first. We then stiffened our sea-wet clothes in front of the fire in the hut - autumn tramping is brilliant!

Chillaxing on Anchorage beach

Anchorage beach first thing in the morning

Off early the next morning, we hit Cleopatra's Pool at around 8am. This is a small waterfall into a deep 'jacuzzi' pool that then empties down a natural waterslide, complete with two twists, into a second, big pool. Being 8am we were unsure commitment-wise to doing the slide. However we encountered an enthusiastic American in his boxers whose first words were "You gatta do it! You gatta do it! Helluva way to wake up." So we took off our sensible warm clothes and got into the freezing water and did it! I went first and can only say that once you'd committed to the 'jacuzzi' pool you were committed to the slide - it was exhilarating and a little terrifying. James volunteered as photographer: to follow when he's able to send them.

Near Cleopatra's pool

We had to get to Awaroa for Roger's water taxi at 3pm, which meant two days' worth of tramping in seven hours. This in mind we had to keep going, but enjoyed ogling the baches at Torrent Bay village, getting excited about toadstools that looked like the ones from Noddy (me), wondering and then finding out what the man we passed meant when he said "brace yourselves" soon after Bark Bay, and the promise of pizza at Awaroa Lodge. It was hard not to rip up the schedule and swim at Onetahuti Beach (and Sandfly beach, which looked like paradise but we distrusted). Instead I paddled and got eaten by sandflies.

Onetahuti Beach

Roger leaves at Awaroa

There was no pizza at Awaroa lodge but we had yummy burger, salad, drinks and sorbet. Then Roger left off the most beautiful beach in the evening sunlight. James and I continued round into Awaroa inlet, past my uncle Douglas' bach to the DOC hut. Pleasantly relaxing in the evening light we suddenly saw, crossing the inlet from the far side, a large group of (essentially) marauding hordes. The school group were in fact very well behaved and quite endearing, the girls playing American football set pieces on the beach and everyone later marvelling up at the Milky Way. We saw two shooting stars! 

Awaroa hut view

Waiharakeke Bay

James and I crossed the inlet at low tide the next day, about 7am, as the sun lit up the growing streams of water. After some foot recirculation and blister treatment we walked on to Waiharakeke Bay, which opened out in slanting sunlight and golden sand as we emerged from the damp bush. It merited a surreal breakfast and tea. The trip from there to Totaranui and beyond seemed like an endless presentation of incredibly beautiful deserted beaches, interspersed with cool bush and views over said beaches. In the end we had to rate them by sand coarseness, just to have something to compare.

At Totaranui, a big campsite with few people there and a wonderful avenue of huge trees leading to it, I got my swim in the sea. It was cold but divine. At the time I was thinking "this is what Mum would do!" and later found out I was right, about that very beach.

A divine and refreshing swim at Totaranui

We left our packs at Totaranui and walked north to Separation Point, via more outstanding beaches. On the way back we saw three baby seals frolicking in the shallows in Mutton Cove, jumping like dolphins and chasing each other. We watched them at one end, playing around the rocks, poking their noses in the air but eluding capture by James' camera. It was pretty cool being so close to them in the wild, and no one else there.

Separation Point - most northerly point of the track (sustaining craisins in the foreground)

Back at Totaranui we finished the last of the Whittaker's chocolate and jumped on our Water Taxi with skipper Jared. Far more than simply transport from A to B, Jared took us via several spots to see baby seals, stopped so we could see a huge shoal of fish, did some jet-boat-tour-like u-turns and donuts and made sure everyone got sprayed. Back at Marahau he drove the boat onto a trailer attached to a tractor parked in the low-tide shallows. He then hopped round and drove the tractor up the beach and onto the road!

Seals: mother and pup together, and bigger female...or father? Taken during kayaking.

A final, immense and delicious meal from the Fat Tui food van (parked outside Kahu Kayaks - do not miss it if you go!) in the last of the day's sun, and it was goodbye properly to James. He returns to the UK tomorrow, but I reckon he'll be back!

This week Roger has played his first game for the Wellington United men's social team. I have another match with the Wellington United women's 2nds (that's not a social team) this weekend against big rivals Petone. Watch this space.

Five things you can't do in London

This weekend we took the thus-far-rare opportunity to stay in New Zealand’s capital and enjoy what it had to offer. Here’s a list of things to do if you ever find yourself in a similar position:

Wellington at sunrise

1) Cycle and run up some hills. I recommend tiring yourself out cycling up Mt. Makara at Makara Mountain Bike Park and then scaring yourself by shooting back down. Extra excitement can be achieved by doing it all on the cheapest thing without stabilisers from the ‘Bike Barn’. [Dora: if you’re up for a challenge Roger will take you for a run up Mt Victoria. So far three guests have taken on the challenge.]

 

2) Visit the Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa museum. Genuinely the best war-related display I’ve been seen. Curated by Peter Jackson and with 2.5x life-size and very life-like models of individual soldiers and a nurse by the Weta workshop, it’s sticking in New Zealand for at least the next few years. 

3) Be a foodie on the cheap. British coffee consultant Greg says, “Wellington does great coffee” and there’s not a Starbucks or Costa to be seen. There’s even a place where you can talk blends and roasts with the staff, much like a wine tasting. If you’ve given up caffeine, try brunch or dinner at one of Cuba St’s trendy establishments: Ombra for Venetian tapas and pizza, Chow for Asian tapas, Loretta’s and Floraditas for everything non-tapas. On weekend mornings, buy your fruit and veg at the local market (much cheaper than the supermarkets).

4) Visit PAK'nSAVE – it’s like a playful Lidl. If the hilarious signage doesn’t split your sides, the price of ‘Budget Spread’ (not called ‘butter’ for legal reasons) will have you rolling down the aisles…

5) Watch Dora play football. It’s something I should have done, but instead I went for a run near the city dump and got lost in some fog. Three-and-a-half hours later I arrived back at the car to give Dora a lift home after her debut for Wellington United, almost too exhausted to ask how it went. [Dora: it went well on a personal level, as I’m pushing myself to be in the 2nds, but we lost 3-1]

Watch out for the Crazy Seagull Lady!

Next time we’ll tell you all about kayaking and hiking the Able Tasman, as we squeeze every last drop of good weather out of this El Nino-inspired New Zealand summer.