We arrived in New Zealand to a rather chilly Christchurch night...13 degrees. John revelled in finally feeling cool for the first time in a while whilst Sarah immediately started putting on a variety of fleeces from her pack. We arrived at our hotel, a lovely mock tudor building paid for by John's credit card points, and fell into bed at about 2am.
We went off to explore Christchurch the next day and were shocked by how much damage remains from the earthquake that hit the city in Feb 2011. We also didn't realise just how many quakes the city has endured....highlighting the fickle nature of the world's media. Most of the city centre was closed off and there were many beautiful old buildings and churches damaged and sealed off.
We spent the next couple of days chilling out and wandering round the city. The council have been ingenious and set up a new shopping street full of portacabins but there has been a lot of controvesy over whether they are going to rebuild the old high street which has been badly damaged. We also took a wander through the lovely botanic gardens (Mum B, this photo is for you!)
Sarah also used the time to purchase a lovely warm jacket for the chilly weather (!!).
It was Waitangi Day (no idea what this is, we just know it's a public holiday!) on Monday 6th Feb and to celebrate there was a classical concert on Sunday evening in one of Christchurch's parks. We went along and had a lovely time chilling out listening to the music. There were also fireworks at the end of the evening but seeing as it doesn't get dark until 9.30pm here, we got too cold waiting and headed back to the hotel!
Whilst in Australia, we had heard about some $1 campervan and car rentals in New Zealand so we decided to check it out on the internet. It turned out to be vehicle relocations where the hire companies need their vehicles to be taken to another part of the country for the next hire. They charge very low fees for travellers to take them so everyone wins! We booked a 2 berth campervan which needed taking from Christchurch to Picton and included free fuel and insurance and did not cost us a dime! We were slightly nervous about the laid-back attitude......we had to make our way to someone's driveway where the van was waiting with the keys hidden in the letterbox at the end of the drive and no-one had taken any details of our license, passport etc.......but it worked out totally fine and we delivered the van to Picton on time and without it having cost us anything!
As we left Christchurch we spotted a hitch hiker with a beautifully crafted sign saying "Hamner".. which just happened to be where we were going. So we picked up Jan the German and gave him a lift to Hamner Hot Springs. Jan had been in NZ for 9 months and was soon heading home to Germany for Uni. We felt good after we had dropped him off as this would help our "good Karma" after all the lifts we got in Thailand (mainly crammed in the back of pick-up vans with an assortment of Thai families)!
The scenery on the drive was absolutely spectacular, with pine-covered mountains and glacial valleys reminding us of Scotland. We stopped in Hanmer Springs which, as the name suggests, has hot springs which have been channeled into several pools of different temperatures and mineral content. We spent a lovely 3 hours wallowing in the gorgeous warm water and having lunch.
We arrived in Picton in the pouring rain and swiftly found ourselves a room for the night in a self-contained flat owned by a backpacker hostel. There were 2 bedrooms but we were lucky that there was no-one else there so we had the whole flat to ourselves!
Picton is the start point for the Queen Charlotte Track, a 71km track following the mountains along the Queen Charlotte Sound. We decided that we would attempt to hike it carrying all our stuff, so we spent yesterday sorting out provisions and booking the ferry that would take us to the start of the trail. Fortunately the hostel has agreed to store some of our uneccesary gear which has somewhat lightened our packs!
Yesterday afternoon the sun came out and we hiked some of the walking trails around Picton. There were some spectacular views out over the sounds, and there were no mosquitos, leeches, enormous flies, snakes or lizards to contend with!
There were however CICADAS! These horrible insects are a hybrid of a massive fly and a grass hopper and they make an insufferable clicking/buzzing noise in the trees. We assumed that we would not have to worry about any unpleasant fauna in NZ (after the tigers/elephants/leaches/ticks/mozzies/cockroaches/dogs etc in SE Asia & Oz), however these ciccadas are our new nemesis! We think they make all this noise in the trees to attract a mate, then mate and drop down dead! As you are walkig along they will fall out of trees onto your head and it never fails to shock and surprise! (They have other modes of causing distress which John encountered on the hike along the Queen Charlotte Track - see next entry!). However despite the cicadas, we were suitably enamoured with the Marlborough Sounds to consider hiking the Queen Charlotte track. This afternoon, we set off!
