Signals

Well, I've traveled near and I've traveled far

I've been over Otira by car

Flown in an old NAC DC3

And recklessly traveled to Christchurch by sea

And got tossed out of a yacht, once, while sailing at sea

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But nothing intrigues me as much I must confess

As a trip on a typical Kiwi Express

- Rod Derrett Kiwi Express

TranzAlpine Journey - views from the outdoor observation car

We are starting to plan our return to the United States in September ... only 4 months away. Lately, I have been in a melancholy mood. It's dispiriting to think that this amazing journey is drawing to a close. Our explorations of this, our adopted country for the past year, have only scratched the surface; but the temperatures have dropped, the winds have steadily increased, and we are running short of time. While we have tried to keep our travels as inexpensive as possible, we have also splurged on some lux experiences, and have stretched our budget more than we had planned. Now is the winter of our [dis]content.

For our recent trip to Christchurch and the Banks Peninsula, we were joined by my mother who was visiting from Canada. It also happened to be her birthday weekend. She can't quite do the kind of trekking and tramping that we prefer, but she's good for a walk. It seemed the perfect opportunity to hop on the KiwiRail TranzAlpine Journey from Christchurch to Greymouth. Our first stop after landing in Christchurch, however, was to grab some lunch. Our bach was a 1.5 hour drive away on Banks Peninsula, so we headed into town for a feed and a ramble. Last week's post touched on this a little (Link: Moving Pictures) and I hinted at, but did not go into detail about the incredible destruction that surrounded us.

ChristChurch Cathedral with the Rendezvous Hotel partially obscured by scaffolding and the Central Library Project to the left. Slated for demolition, progress has halted pending resolution of lawsuits trying to preserve it.

As I was taking this photo of ChristChurch Cathedral, a man walked up and said "People complain about all the pigeons in there, but I like to think of them as angels." 

At 04:35 AM on 4 September 2010, Christchurch was rocked by an earthquake. Measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, the Canterbury/Darfield quake was a strike-slip type (Link: 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake), involving 7 faults, and lasting 40 seconds. It was preceded by a 5.8 foreshock, and aftershocks continued for several months; the Christchurch quake (6.3) was one of these. Striking in the middle of the day (12:51 PM), on 22 February 2011, it was a relatively shallow quake at 5 km depth and was absolutely devastating. In total, one hundred eighty-five people were killed and structural damages have been estimated as high as NZD $40+ Billion.

According to a March 2017 article in The Press (Link: Cathedral Square: Where pigeons roost), it's been 6 years since the earthquakes and there have been no private property developments, office space has moved elsewhere, and hotels are now the most likely next step. Unfortunately, large-scale quakes (Mescalli VII "causing significant property damage and possible loss of life") are likely to occur in this region on average every 55 years. With that in mind, I can imagine lenders and developers would be reluctant to invest in this kind of infrastructure and tenants would be equally shy to occupy it.

As we wandered about town, scaffolding supported buildings everywhere and there were a number of city-block sized pits where buildings had been demolished. As of February 2015 (the most recent date for which I could find data), there had been 1240 building demolitions in Christchurch and only 292 rebuild permits.

Old Post Office Building

Central Library Project

We had a long drive out to Banks Peninsula along unfamiliar, curvy, and mountainous roads so had to cut our time in the city short. We stopped to get some more pics in front of the Christchurch Art Gallery before getting back on the road.

Quasi - Ronnie van Hout

On Looking into Chapman's Homer - Michael Parekowhai

Feet in The Air - Little H

South of ChCh is Banks Peninsula, a region made up of numerous harbours, bays, and coves all contained in two ancient shield volcanos. In 1770, Captain Cook named the area after the Endeavour's botanist, Joseph Banks. In 1830, a British brig captain became embroiled in local Maori politics resulting in one of the settlements being sacked and the people massacred. The British sent a permanent official British Resident to attempt to stop further atrocities. In 1838, a French whaler captain purchased land from the local Maori in hopes of forming a French colony on the Peninsula. By the time his colonists arrived in 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi had already been signed, granting the Crown sovereignty over all of New Zealand. Akaroa, the French settlement Port Louis-Philippe, persists to this day and retains much of its French flavour.

Our bach (Link: Akaroa Coastal Cottage) was perched on a cliff face about 4 km past town along a dark and winding road. It was a bit of a steep trek from the road down to the bach, but that separation from the road made it quite isolated and peaceful. We spent our mornings listening to birdsong and watching the bay come to life. In the evenings, we snuggled in a blanket, drank wine, and stared at the stars.

  

"Parking" was roadside on a ridge above and access to the bach involved a steep scramble down a dirt path.

  

We would have loved to have cooked on this old wood-burner stove but weren't allowed to use it. Modern appliances had been installed at some point.

Watching Orion dive behind the mountains across the bay was our nightly entertainment. 

The Maori settlement at Onuku, one of the signing sites for the Treaty of Waitangi, was a short walk from the bach, and Akaroa was about 4 km in the other direction. We made walks to both areas, picking among the rocks on the beach and eating/shopping in town.

  

Beach explorations - Onuku

Akaroa Harbour

While living in Hawaii, I worked at SeaLife Park, and then at the New England Aquarium when I was living in Boston. I have since tempered my enthusiasm for such places, and I can't stomach to think of the cruel lives led by animals at SeaWorld, and other "performance" oriented centres. I understand both sides of the argument, but I think I would prefer to know that these animals are wild and free. I am 100% opposed to canned captured animal encounters like those "swim with a dolphin" opportunities offered at resorts in Florida, Mexico, and the Caribbean. When Kari suggested we do a dolphin encounter out of Akaroa, I was understandably skeptical. Ecoseaker offers a boat ride out of the bay and into the swells of the Pacific ocean. They did a really good job keeping us entertained and informed on the way out, and provided yummy hot chocolate and biscuits to warm our bones on the ride back in. They have a fairly good idea of where dolphins will be, though they can't guarantee it, and assuming dolphins are around and they don't flee from the boat, customers don wetsuits and hop in the water. Maximum time allowed in the water with the dolphins is 45 minutes, and you aren't allowed to touch them. It was an interesting thing to do, but I don't feel the need to ever do it again. The Pacific Ocean off the coast of New Zealand's South Island in April is mind-numbingly cold even when wearing a 5mm wetsuit!

Hector's Dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori) are the world's smallest and rarest dolphin species and are endemic to New Zealand. One of the first things I noticed about them is the rounded dorsal fin. As it turns out, they are the only dolphin species with this feature. They live to be about 23 years old and females have their first calf between seven and nine years old. They calf only about once every 2-4 years, giving them a low potential for population growth.

The top photo is Grant's, the second is Kari's. The other two photos were taken by Adam with Ecoseaker.

The primary reason for our foray into the Canterbury region was to take the TranzAlpine train across the Southern Alps from ChCh to Greymouth. The train leaves at 8:15 AM, so it was an early morning start for us to get there on time from the wop-wops. Once on the train, we made ourselves at home, spreading out with coffee, reading material, and rousing games of Exploding Kitten. The train was incredibly comfortable. Seats were plush and huge panoramic windows coupled with skylights let in plenty of light and provided great viewing. 

Coffee and comfy seats to start our journey.

 Every seat had a great view.

  

Making ourselves at home.

The highlight of the train was the open-air viewing platform. No windows, so it was noisy, cold, and windy, but there was no glass to obstruct the view or reflect into camera lenses. Our second favourite spot on the train was the cafe/bar car. As usual, we didn't miss out on an opportunity to enjoy some of New Zealand's fermented grape juice. Taking photos from a shaking, moving train spewing exhaust and traveling at speeds approaching 100 kph was somewhat challenging. Worse still was the crowd on the way out. At one point, another passenger reached over my shoulder and put their camera in front of my face to get a shot. Another rested their camera on Kari's shoulder. Fortunately, at over four hours long and rather chilly through the high mountain passes, only the hardiest of us remained through the last half of the trip. On the ride back, I don't think there were ever more than 10 people back there.

Pic from the viewing car before it got chilly ... and crowded.

Viewing car empty while waiting at Arthur's Pass.

  

100 kph views.

This is absolutely one of my all-time favourite NZ pics. I won't reveal how many times I had to shoot to get one photo with a pole framed just right as we whizzed by.

Billed as "one of the most scenic train trips anywhere in the world" it was pretty amazing, but I would hesitate to call it "world class". It really was quite picturesque and Lady Luck smiled upon us once again, giving us beautiful weather and a nearly empty train. We had the viewing car almost to ourselves for long stretches of the journey. One mistake we made was to complete the entire journey in 1 day. 4+ hours from ChCh to Greymouth, an hour for lunch, then 4+ hours for the return journey made for a really long day. My advice, for anyone who asks, would be to spend the afternoon and evening in and around Greymouth, then return the next day.

We are starting to put together an itinerary for our return trip to the U.S. Rather than taking the typical eastward route, we are going to fly to Tokyo for a weekend, then westward on to Amsterdam. We will spend a week traveling through Europe by train, finishing in Paris. We're meeting family and friends for a few days in Scotland, then making the final jump across the pond to NYC. That does not mean that the good times in NZ are over. Far from it. On my birthday weekend, I am again tackling the Tongariro Crossing, this time a guys' weekend with friends. In July, anticipating a cold and dreary winter, we have made plans to spend a week in Fiji. 

Tickets, please!