My favourites list from New Zealand 

So many fantastic experiences but in the end it is all the unexpected things that I loved the most. 

The city of Christchurch – managed a day there on the way home and it is full of vigour, determination, laughter and funky art – the people there are looking forward not backwards and I loved that. 

Scenery and sea close together – like the Pancake Rocks.

The food and wine – especially the glut of green lipped mussels that I imbibed (and that is the right word) -I just kept slurping them up with wine to wash them down of course. Roll on Bluff oyster season.

And, again unexpectedly, the interesting things you can do like jumping off a mountain and flying over Queenstown and here finally is the proof of that:)

Green lipped mussels, Pancake rocks, parasailing and funky Ronnie Van Hout art in Christchurch

Any complaints? Only very wiggly roads, weather even more changeable than Melbourne and the downside of the peace and quiet – intermittent wifi/roaming access (but I suppose that is the whole point?).

Final days in New Zealand – Arthur’s Pass, Castle Hill

Drove from Dunedin through Arthur’s Pass in the centre of the South Island to stay at another Wilderness Lodge.What a glorious part of the country.Braided rivers, more boulders at Castle Hill (I’m getting a bit of a thing about boulders), lovely flora and fauna – really hard to finally leave what must be one of the most wonderful landscapes I’ve ever visited. 

You Kiwis are right – you live in scenic paradise – and you keep that quiet so that it remains that way. Good on you – smart move:)

Arthur”S Pass Wilderness Lodge where I stayed for a couple of days including the braided river.

The Castle Hill Boulders – definitely a place to shoot a movie

Flora around Wilderness Lodge.



Dunedin – a touch of Scotland in New Zealand and we experience “Steampunk” in Oamuru

I quite liked Dunedin. It is very Scottish – buildings look similar and there are a lot of churches – in fact we stayed at a great hotel called Brothers which is opposite the cathedral pictured and used to be the home of the Catholic brothers. No ghosts seen but rumour has it…..

It is not a very busy place – uni students were only just starting to come in for the start of the year – and as you can see the station is impressive but not very busy. Nevertheless, I liked the movement towards more street art and it did mean that en-route to our last lodge in Arthur’s Pass we got to see two very cool places.

Downtown Dunedin

First stop an hour outside of Dunedin was the Moeraki Boulders – at first they look much smaller than you expect them to be but as I wandered down the beach on a glorious day I became more and more enamoured of them. So here they are.

The Moeraki Boulders including what’s inside if you crack one open.

And finally we stopped at what we thought was the quaint little town of Oamuru – it seems idyllic and quiet but then you find it is the home of STEAMPUNK and you realised that not all towns in New Zealand are what they appear. For the uninitiated Steampunk is …. well an art form, a movement, something to do with using industrial products to make other things – all very weird, wonderful and decidedly quirky. A few tasters below – but I suggest you visit if you ever find yourself in this part of NZ – it is quite an eye opener 

Steampunk centre in Oamuru – not what we were expecting in the apparently sleepy town of Oamuru.

Last NZ post coming soon and then it is off to Tasmania.

New Zealand, Queenstown – I never go jet boating without my Louis – naturally…..

Queenstown – my midlife crisis has been satisfied!
First piece of news is that after 12 years of no driving at all and 21 years of no driving on the left hand side of the road – I actually drove the rental car – (round some very wiggly NZ roads I might add). So it is true – you don’t forget how to do it – but personally I still much prefer to be driven (chauffeurs always welcome) so I can look out of the window. Big thanks to Marjory for sitting next to me and not gripping her chair too often!
But that’s not all – in Queenstown I bought a fab piece of art by a cool local artist – Louise McCrae – who paints abstracts on a large piece of wood, then chops it all up in different widths and sizes and then puts it all back together again in a different form – so real creation, destruction and reconstruction – pretty cool.

Then I went jet-boating – actually second time for me as Nigel and Rae-Ann took me out a few years ago but this time we did some spins too.

I never go jet boating without my LV

Queenstown thrills and food. See that view – I ran off the mountain just above there…..

 

And for the finale – I ran off the top of the mountain in Queenstown – luckily while attached at a pilot and a parasail. Pretty cool after you actually leave land. Would do it again. Proof to be provided later as pics are all on USB stick. Honest!

Somewhere on the way to Hokitika?

En route between Resurgence Lodge north of Nelson to Hokitika we stumbled on a small Sunday market where we found a man with a ten gallon hat, a no drones sign and rock formations known as the “Pancakes” – for obvious reasons. 

Ten gallon hat man and the Pancake rock formations

Hokitika – can you say it properly?

Second time visit to Hokitika ( we keep trying to pronounce the right way to say this word but even the New Zealander’s are not consistent. “Hoe Ke ticker” is my best phonetic attempt but happy to be corrected again!

View from my bedroom in Hokitika at Rimu Lodge

I am clearly enjoying NZ cuisine too much – here is a before an after of a chair I sat in!

I only sat on it for a minute…..



A day on the boat in Abel Tasman Park

Leisurely cruise with four others stopping off at various beaches within Abel Tasman national Park. Each one a delight.

Beautiful Abel Tasman Park

As Kate Bush used to sing….WOW! WOW!WOW!”

Having had our plans of taking the train up the East coast to Kaikoura and then Blenheim scuppered due to the recent earthquake in Kaikoura we flew to Blenheim and then headed to Nelson. It’s been a few years since I have been here but not much has changed – this is fine by me. Highlight from my perspective was seeing the art/fashion from the 2016 WOW (World of Wearable Art Show held in Wellington but originally held in Nelson – now there is a museum housing past outfits). If you’ve never been to the actual event – make sure you visit Wellington when it is on – it is always sold out and deservedly so.

Here are some examples of what you would see but you also have to imagine it on a huge stage with lots of things to look at and amazing music – it is one of the best things I’ve ever seen (twice).

2016 WOW Winners – Art and Fashion come together brilliantly

Christchurch – Phoenix Rising

I first came to visit Christchurch on a long weekend a couple of years before the earthquake of February 2011. I then visited about two weeks after that dramatic event with the head of HR NZ Felicity to visit staff impacted; then again a couple of years after that and now three years later. It has been an incredible experience to see what is going on here. 

It is a city severely impacted and affected by what happened in 2011 but not defined by it. It is a credit to human optimism and resilience to see what has taken place over the past 6 years. 70% of the CBD buildings had to be or will be demolished; they are spending an estimated NZD 100 million each week in construction and would do more but lack enough workers even though many have come over from Ireland, the Philippines and China to assist.I am not sure where all the money is coming from but this is a city in transition from a traditional style quasi 1950’s England oriented town to a vibrant modern city filled with street art (even Rome from Melbourne has painted a massive wall), container malls, a “cardboard Cathedral” built by a post earthquake expert architect from Japan and a vision for a bright future which will see more and more visitors arrive. I think, that like Napier in the 30’s, it will totally reinvent itself and thrive for years to come.Of course it is not all perfect – (there is still an ongoing debate and squabbling about the famous city centre cathedral (now deconsecrated) – “pull it down or spend squillions restoring it”?) – I know what I’d do – but generally I have been overwhelmed by how cool it is here and I have diarised to visit again in 5 years’ time. 

Also proud to see that ANZ Centre is close to being finalised and the ANZ branch is about as funky and cool as I’ve seen – and I’ve seen a few!

Art Deco Regent Street; 185 chairs memorial to those who died in the earthquake and new art to enhance a city being rebuilt.

Cardboard Cathedral, the new art gallery, Restart Mall, destruction and fun art – all in one place

Christchurch Botanical Gardens might be even better than Kew?

Last days in Bay of Islands, New Zealand- AND I get my photo taken with a few half naked men!

Once again I went in search of whales and dolphins. What did I see – 4 dolphins and a spray of water in the distance that I was assured was a whale. Hmmmm. The lady who took us out kept talking about the number of times she has seen 200 dolphins swimming together and that they must have decided to take a short holiday! Yeah right – I think it is me as I am never lucky with either dolphin or whale watching but I remain optimistic and keep on trying. Surely one day…..

Had much more success with my walk to the Treaty Ground where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed giving human and land rights to all the local population. It continues to be a living document and is often debated as apparently part of it is open to interpretation – especially as some of the  Maori signed an English translation rather than the version in local language and of course they are not exactly the same. Also got to see a cultural show while there – pretty lively. 

Traditional canoes(longest in the world), The carved house and a bit of a “wow” entry to a private home

    

Cultural show, a 1/3 scale model of the Endevour and a very friendly duck – and of course ducks were there right at the start of my trip to the Peabody Hotel in Memphis! And that little White House – is part of the “hell hole”!

I also braved the 15 minute ferry to a place which was once described at the “hell hole of the Pacific” due to its success as a trading post and the inevitable pleasures that came with that status. Even Charles Darwin visited and helped fund a church as it was such a dreadful place – which is quite funny given his subsequent theories did not make him popular with the church. Nowadays it is known as Russell and is a sleepy and cute town with 1000 local residents and is mostly famed for the Duke of Marlborough hotel and pub as it was the first officially licensed bar in New Zealand – so it seemed only reasonable that I should have a drink there – which I did together with dinner with some Americans who live there 6 months of the year. One of them, Toni was on my flight from LA to Auckland and I helped her put her luggage in the storage area above her head as she was by her own admission “vertically challenged”. Turned out she was going on to Keri Keri so her husband dropped me off at my hotel and then they invited me over to Russell for dinner – sometimes a good deed gets its rewards. They were delightful people too and love NZ.           

And here’s my final pic from NZ with my new friends – note the warrior effects in first photo and the smilies in the second – great group.        

Me and the Maori performers at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds