Christchurch In The Rain

Our next stop was Akaroa, a small town on one of the harbors east of Christchurch.  Since the 2011 earthquake, Christchurch has had no place to dock and land cruise ships, so most of them anchor at Akaroa. A friend happened to be on a NZ/AUS cruise, and had the day free, so we joined her and toured Christchurch together.

Here is the harbor at Akaroa, the lighthouse was moved here from the mouth when it was retired in the 50s. We waited until the smoking and massive cruise ships left before we took this photo.





After negotiating  the horde of tour buses and vans, we picked up our friend.  The cloud cover was low and threatening to rain at any moment.  So we decided to drive the long scenic route to Christchurch.  The photos weren’t any good, as we saw nothing but cloud for almost 2 hours. 

With a break in the rain we did a bit of walking about downtown Christchurch.

This is the interim Cathedral.  Built when the original Christchurch Cathedral was badly damaged in the quake, it consists of cardboard, concrete, and lots of plywood and was erected in 11 months.  Built on a 3-meter-thick concrete slab, it is probably the safest building in the city.








To counter the destruction of the quake, public art installations were thrown up all over the city.









Here is the original church.  The damage is extreme, some effort was made to support it, but has since succumbed to the aftershocks.


With the rain starting to come down, and a evening sailing, we headed back on the express route to Akaroa.

We took an evening stroll after the rain had finally stopped through the local reserve to the graveyards.  It was very interesting to see separate areas for non-conformists (non-Anglicans) and Catholics as this was a British colony, with a state religion.

In Search of Albatross

By Jen.

Otago Peninsula is supposed to harbor some of the most accessible wildlife on mainland NZ. They have NZ fur seals, albatross, and penguins to name a few. However, a lot of the wildlife requires expensive tours to see them. Since it was our first try at it and we still have plenty of time before we leave, I figured we could make a go of kayaking and see what animals pop up along our route. We put out first thing in the morning from the little beach at Harington Point. It didn’t take long before we started to see some wildlife, and we were able to get up close to many of them. It was truly delightful, flowing along at our own pace and interacting with the wildlife from the safety of our kayak.

First, a juvenile seal taking a break in the morning sun.

Then an adult, getting its scratch on.

Then some black-backed gulls and their chicks.

Then we had a couple of seals in the water by us. One of them warned us to stay away.

They had an interesting roll that they did when they swam. We assumed it was so they could see both in the water and out.

These guys were talking quite loudly.

Birds nesting up on the hill.

You can tell this is a frequent spot.

Couple of times we got swarmed by red-billed gulls.

More chicks.

On our way back to the beach, we actually saw an albatross drifting along the currents right above the water. It was a massive bird, similar in appearance to the black-backed gull. They actually rarely flap their wings, instead locking them in place to effortlessly glide the currents. Its flight was quite majestic. It was already upon us by the time we realized what it was, and by then I was too slow with the camera to get a photo and it didn’t swing by close enough again. Since we were already in the area, after stowing they kayak, we went up to a viewing platform to see if we could spot any more. We didn’t see any others, but we did see some other birds, even watching a black-backed gull swoop down and grab a red-billed gull chick!

These are called spoonbills.

Red-billed gull chick (don’t worry, this one only got fed, not eaten).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLGX8zA9R2Y&feature=youtu.be

The wind was super strong over the cliffs. The birds would just hover in the air for a while before landing or flying away.

Next, we gave Sandfly Bay a go. Surprisingly, the bay was not named after the annoying insect, but rather after the blowing sand.

The wind made footprints disappear pretty quickly.

While walking to a rock to get sand out of my shoes, I almost walked right up to a seal! He had been reclining in the rocks and I didn’t even see him until he lifted his head. Rather than take a picture, I got out of the way, so as not let him feel threatened.

This brute walked up on the beach ahead of us. They have a funny gait!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afcybOU9X-E&feature=youtu.be

Check out those flipperprints!

After that, it was time to head back into town and get some fuel.

Oamaru to Dunedin

By Jen.

Next stop was Oamaru. This fun town got its riches from refrigerated-meat shipping. Apparently it was lucrative enough to support building huge Victorian stone buildings. In its heydey in the 1880s, it was as large as Los Angeles was at the time. However, it overreached itself and teetered on bankruptcy. In the most recent decades, there has been a repurposing of the buildings, leading to quite some fun places. In fact, it totes itself as the steampunk capital of NZ!

The main streets have beautiful stone buildings.

Check out the detail in that stonework!

Even McDonald’s was decked-out to try and fit in!

Inside St Patrick’s Basilica.

They even have a 4-person, tandem-bike vehicle!

The other thing Oamaru is known for is penguins! They have two colonies on their shores. The little penguin (same as the ones we saw in Australia), as well as the world’s rarest penguin species, yellow-eyed penguins. We tried for a while to spot some, but didn’t ever see any. And gave out to the cold wind (brutal chill on-shore breeze) and retreated to the van. We did see some NZ fur seals, at least.

We decided to keep moving on and inspect Moeraki Boulders. They are spherical rock-concretions that reach over 1-m in diameter. They were formed by lime holding together mud, pebbles, and shells that were buried under the ocean floor long ago.

This is one that was split apart.

Then we landed in Dunedin. After doing some much-needed work (like laundry and washing the van), we thought we would hit up Baldwin Street, the world’s steepest residential street, according to Guinness Book of World Records.

 

It starts off pretty tame, but gets pretty steep at the end.

Look! I am taller than Jonathan, even though he is directly behind me!