Tuesday 8 March – to Christchurch

I have just made a few notes here along the six hour journey to Christchurch as the wifi was intermittent on the bus so updating the blog was not easy and I frustratingly kept losing big chunks, so decided to just look out of the window instead.

A grey morning as I left Picton on the intercity bus armed with my packed lunch bought at the ferry terminal.  I settled myself in the front seat as usual so that I had plenty of opportunity for photography and asking the driver any questions I may have.  In fact the driver was informative along the way and pointed out any items of interest.
Initially we passed through so many wineries.  I think we were told on the previous day’s tour that 85 per cent of NZ wine comes from this area but New Zealand wine represents only 1 per cent of wines of the world.  We experienced some exceedingly steep hills with some scarily sharp and high hairpins.  The land was very dry and brown compared to the North Island.  Judith had mentioned in an email that Christchurch had hit a record 40 deg.  I think that will be different today, thank goodness.

The journey was fairly uneventful but I’ve included photos I took on the iPad which are rather wobbly and blurred.  I have decided to try and get a new card for the camera, which the gadget may be able to cope with.  Just notes of places we passed through in between me dozing off….. Ward, apparently named after the prime minister, Grassmere, Salt plains.  By this time you could see swathes of cloud swirling round the hills like candy floss.  Eventually we hit the coast again.  The ocean was trying to be blue.  The driver pointed out the seal colonies on the rocks below which I remembered from my previous Kiwi bus journey up this piece of coastline.

Eventually it began to rain, the first rain, apart from one wet day in Taupo.  It got heavier, so miserable after all the lovely sunshine.  It was ironic to see all the fields on either side of the road being intensely irrigated here, yet it’s pouring with rain!  I guess someone had forgotten to turn them off.

The road passed over and under and beside the railway for many kilometres and there were many little tunnels through the hillside.
The roads are now flooded!

Arriving at Kaikoura – lunch stop half an hour in the rain, I walked briefly along the Main Street, memories flooding back of swimming with dolphins and enjoying seafood chowder with a young backpacker companion in a little restaurant which hadn’t changed a bit in the last five years.  This time the gulls tried to share my lunch on a rather damp beach.  I chatted briefly to an American whose friend was swimming with the Dolphins as we spoke.  Her earlier slot had been cancelled because of the weather.

We were finally allowed back on board the bus and passed through more extremely hilly areas then yet more vineries.  We were given a toilet stop at Cheviot then continued through more heavy rain and gloom.  We dropped someone off at Pegasus before finally hitting the city traffic of Christchurch.  It soon became evident by the number of cranes throughout the city, that there was still major repair work going on….

It was lovely to meet Judith and Ross at the bus station.  I don’t think they recognised me at first…. could it really be this dishevelled traveller with a backpack??  But smiles all round as we introduced each other.  Judith had apparently known my artist friend, Lee Belcher, since she was 19.  They had met in Holland, I learned later.

I was then given a quick tiki tour of the parts of the city worst hit by the earthquake that happened just prior to my visit five years ago and which prevented me coming to Christchurch at all.  I have to say I was horrified when they pointed out complete areas cleared where there had once been high rises, the whole of the city centre a changed landscape beyond recognition, Judith said.  They took me to the ‘temporary’ cardboard cathedral and it was there I saw the sad photos of the ruined one.  I had planned to ring the bells there on my last visit…. Even outside the centre on the way to their home in Hyde Park, they pointed out evidence of the earthquake’s destruction.  A dormer window missing from a roof where there were two on a beautiful old lodge; Judith’s local church, in fact every stone church in the city was damaged and closed.

We finally arrived at Judith and Ross’s beautiful house in a quiet suburb.  After showing me around we relaxed and chatted into the evening over a very nice Pinot Grit and a delicious salmon dinner.