Day 12 - Christchurch - Akaroa - Hanmer Springs

This morning we set the alarm and were up and moving before 7am.  Lovely man that I married heated the stainless steel shower floor up for me before I got into the shower – man it was cold before he warmed it up – thanks Luv !!!!  We drove into Christchurch – what a sad situation.  So many of the old beautiful buildings no longer there and in the process of being demolished.  So many empty blocks.  So many buildings fenced off and looking desolate and like a ghost town.  We couldn’t believe the difference from when we were here in 2004 – so very sad.  But, the locals that we spoke to all seemed really positive about the rebuilding process although one lady told us that she had spoken to two locals yesterday who had come into Chch for the first time since the earthquake in Feb 2011 and only because they had visitors from overseas who wanted to have a look around.

We went to a shopping mall that has been built from containers – it was amazing and a great concept for businesses to be able to continue trading when there is such a shortage of usable trading areas.  They join two 40’ containers together and put windows in – just amazing what people can do and made me think of the saying “Necessity is the mother of invention”.



 Loved the words on this ad

 Container mall in Christchurch

After that we stopped in at Westfield Riccarton before heading off to Akaroa.  We had planned on staying there over night but there were quite a few large landslides on our way over the mountains and Al was worried that there might be more if we had more rain tonight so we had lunch there, walked around the quaint little town and then got into the car and headed up to Hanmer Springs.

View of Akaroa Bay at lunch time

Al at lunch

Some of the visitors we had a lunch time

Helping himself to the sugar in the sugar bowl - so funny to watch and listen to

We found another lovely little unit and dropped our bags off before going into town for dinner and to check out the thermal pools here.  Tomorrow Al has suggested a relaxing day although I am not sure how that will work out – he wouldn’t know relaxation if it bit him on the butt !!!!  I really can’t see him spending a few hours at the thermal pools – maybe he will prove me wrong !

The further north we drove the more little lambs we saw – they are sooooooooooooo cute – frolicking around in the fields.  The smaller ones stay really close to Mom but the ones that are slightly bigger seem to be quite happy to chase each other around and butt heads together.  I got so excited every time we saw more lambs.  We had seen some when we left Christchurch on the Friday after we arrived here but the further south we went, there weren’t any.  I think it is too cold further south and those sheep are waiting for it to warm up before lambing starts !!!

Some of the lambs we saw outside Christchurch

Al has such a dry sense of humour and never ceases to amaze me with the one liners that he comes out with – without even a flicker of a smile from him most of the time.  When we were in Akaroa, we saw an old enamel jug for $40.  I remember we used to have one of those when I was growing up and I said I must remember to tell me Mom how much she could have got when she got rid of it as I am positive she doesn’t have it anymore.  (While we were talking to my folks about our holiday when we were back I told them about the jug and the bone handled knives and next minute she is out of her chair and comes back from the kitchen with ‘our’ enamel jug – she still has it so am going to leep an eye out for it in the future !!!!) Actually, maybe I should check in case she does still have it and can sell it and make some money on it because I reckon she wouldn’t have paid more than $1 with the exchange rate and inflation being what it is / has been !!!!!  The same as the bone handle knives that we saw yesterday for $50 for 6 – I am positive that my Gran had heaps of those – wish I knew what happened to them.  Maybe I should have asked for them as well as the Cheaper By The Dozen book that I asked for when Gran died – she always used to read it to me and I just loved the stories.

 

Views of Akaroa

 



Well two more sleeps before we go home and, while we have had the most amazing time, I am ready to go home now.  I want to sleep in my own bed with my own pillow.  The first 8-9 days I was sleeping pretty well but the last few nights I am back to my horrible sleeping pattern – hopefully I will have a good sleep tonight and a lovely sleep in tomorrow.  I am missing my on-line friends as well – feel a little disconnected not knowing what they are all getting up to and if they are all OK.

Day 13 Hanmer Springs

We woke this morning to another overcast day.  Had a bit of a lie in and only left the unit at about 9.30.  Al convinced me to go and have a massage so we went to book that before finding me something to eat.  I went for a massage at 10.30 and Al went and had breakfast and the best cup of coffee he has had the whole holiday !!!  The lady that gave me the massage was very good EXCEPT she kept taking her hands off to get more oil – as far as I am concerned a BIG no no !!!!  But other than that, it was a lovely way to spend part of our last full day in NZ.

After Al picked me up we had some lunch from the local bakery.  I had a pie (second one in NZ because I am not really a pie person) and it was delicious – I said to Al that I couldn’t decide which of the two pies I had had was better !!!  He had a cup of coffee and said that it was as nice as the cup he had had for breakfast.  How funny that on the last day we are here he has two really good cups of coffee !

Anyway after that we decided to take a drive up to the snowfields near Hanmer Springs.  As a rule we get to a certain height and then I have to lie down because I don’t do heights very well – in fact I don’t do them at all full stop !!!!!  As we got up it flattened out for quite a few kms so I sat up and then when we started to climb again I lay down again.  The mist was coming down and after climbing for quite a while Al pulled over and said to me to sit up but not look down on his side of the car – just to look at the bonnet.  It was starting to snow !!!!  We were very excited because we had wanted to have it snow on us for absolutely ages and we hadn’t been lucky enough to have it happen.  Well we put our jackets on and got out the car (me standing as close to the car as I could !!!) and Al took a photo of the snow as it landed on me.  We caught some on our tongues.  We caught some on our hands and we watched it fall on our jackets and in our hair.  And then we decided that, as much as we wanted to be in the snow when it was falling, we hadn’t had to use the snow chains yet and we didn’t really want to start.  It was also bloody cold and the thought of having to try to work out how to get the snow chains on the wheels on the side of a little mountain road was more excitement than we needed so we turned around, I lay down again and we drove down to where the mountain flattened out where we followed some of the rivers that were flowing.

Snowing on me

Still snowing in me

The water here is just amazing.  In some rivers, it doesn’t matter how shallow or deep they are, the water is as clear as clear can be.  In other rivers, there seems to be a milky green tinge to the water which sounds awful but actually looks quite beautiful as well.

 

Trying to find the snowfields outside Hanmer Springs

We eventually got to a closed gate with a notice on Leave Shut – which to Al means you can go through but shut it after you – and to me means keep out – we kept out because I am a ninny about breaking the rules !!!!  So we turned around here and went as far as we could the other way and then turned and headed back to Hanmer Springs.  We drove around the little town for a while before stopping off and having some dinner and then going back to the unit for a spa and a final pack of everything that had to go home. 

We had a great day with lots of ‘remember whens’ from when we were kids and we did things as a family – it was so funny at times – telling stories about the family and who used to do what or say this or that.

 

Day 14 - Hanmer Springs - Christchurch - Gold Coast

We woke this morning to the most beautiful day outside.  The sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky.  There was frost on our car.  The view from our room was unbelievable and something that we had not seen since we had arrived there due to the low cloud cover.  The mountains surrounded us and ranged from a lovely green to the snow capped mountains a little further away.  I was sorry that we didn’t have just one more day there so that we could maybe go up to the snow fields and play again but I suppose there would always be ‘just one more day’ that we needed to do something else so I will be grateful for the fantastic time we have had and the wonderful celebration of 25 years of being married to my bestest friend.

Frost on the car in Hanmer Springs

We got some breakfast from the local bakery and hit the road.  The drive to Christchurch was uneventful and when we got here, we went to the outlet mall called Dress Smart.  We did some final shopping there before going across the road The Hub where we got some sushi for lunch and then headed for the airport.  Got here and were just about to get out the car when Al remembered that we hadn’t filled up the car so off we headed again to do that before coming back, heading to the toilets to take our thermals off and then check in.

We were lucky enough to get exit row seats again (and, given it was probably the same plane only on the leg going the other way, I still wasn’t completely convinced that we had the payoff of extra leg room for the responsibility we agreed to take on.

We have just been through duty free where we bought 2 bottles of Amarula (the one we bought on the way out didn’t last as long as I thought it would !!!) and some charms for my Pandora bracelet to celebrate the amazing holiday we have had and the great friendship that we share.

To anyone who has the chance to visit the south island of NZ – take it and enjoy !  This country is so beautiful and scenic and no matter where we have been, the people have been friendly and helpful.  We couldn’t have asked for a better place to go on holiday and see all that we have seen and do all that we have done and go home knowing that we took all the opportunities that we could to do and see what was there.

K was waiting at the airport for us – I think we were probably more pleased to see her than she was to see us !!!  We stopped off to say hullo to the old people on our way home and chat for a little while.  It was so good to see them – Dad was looking well and seems to have recovered really well from the last lot of radiation treatment that he had.  Mom is Mom – the only difference seemed to be she seemed to have shrunk some more !  Alfie and Rosie went berserk when we walked in – they were both pleased to see us – certainly the unconditional love that people say you get from pets was noticeable – I think the welcome we got was more exuberant than when we are only gone for the day !  

We have now been home just over a week and it feels like forever since we were there.  I am so glad that I documented our holiday because I have had so much fun re-reading it this morning.  Now to go and post it all and add the photos !  I am trying really hard to get out of my comfort zone in a wide range of things so this holiday we went over with only our first night’s accommodation, the time share and our lunch at Fleurs booked.  It was a little challenging at times, not knowing where we were going to be staying that night but I managed it fine and it was great because it allowed us the flexibility to do everything that we wanted to do without being tied down to pre-booked arrangements.  It was hard but I managed which is the main thing.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this and I was suitably able to describe some of the adventures we had.