Leaving the beautiful Aoraki/Mt Cook area, we drove our motorhome Vwhā, east into Christchurch. As we drove through this city, we marvelled at how many of Christchurch’s beautiful historic buildings had survived or been restored since the devastating earthquake of 2011.
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| Former University of Canterbury, now the Christchurch Arts Centre |
For example, the stunning stone University of Canterbury campus, has been restored and is now the Christchurch Arts Centre.
We also spotted the unusual A-framed Christchurch Transitional Cardboard Cathedral. It was opened in 2013 to temporarily replace the original and beautiful Christ Church Anglican Cathedral, which was significantly damaged in the earthquake. The old Cathedral is now being restored.
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| Cardboard Transitional Cathedral, Christchurch |
The city has had to, and still is, rebuilding itself after the earthquake. We were longing to walk around to have a closer look, but it was getting late. So, we drove straight to the Christchurch Top 10 Campground and settled in for the night.
But the next day, instead of visiting Christchurch city, we ended-up driving to Akaroa.
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| Boatsheds and wetlands driving into Akaroa |
We’d heard Akaroa was a quaint French/British settlement on the Akaroa Harbour. The harbour is on the Banks Peninsula which juts out into the Pacific Ocean, south-east of Christchurch city.
We had to be on the south-eastern side of city to have some repairs to Vwhā’s windscreen, so we carried on from there.
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| Akaroa Harbour, Banks Peninsula, NZ |
But first, the windscreen……. we’d been driving on SH79 to Christchurch when we slowed for roadworks. Unfortunately, the driver behind didn’t, and zoomed past us. As he did, his tyres flicked up a huge stone that put a crack in our windscreen. We thought very bad things about that driver!
So, we made a quick visit to Novus Christchurch to get the windscreen fixed. They were fantastic and did a very good job.
With that sorted, and because we were already on that side of town, we carried on to Akaroa.
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| Cottage in Akaroa, built in 1856 |
It is a drive of around 85 km to get there, but it was worth it as we found a quaint wee town, with a range of historic buildings. Some date back to the mid-1800’s and are still being used for shops, restaurants, and homes, all wrapped around a very picturesque harbour.
It seemed to be very quiet as there weren’t very many people walking around. We had a pleasant lunch harbourside, then drove back to our Christchurch campsite, with a supermarket shop on the way. It had been a good day.
The next morning, we drove into Christchurch City and parked Vwhā at the Botanical Gardens while we explored Christchurch city on foot.
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| Marg at the Riverside Market, Christchurch, NZ |
We found our way to the very new Riverside Market and had a lovely browse around. We were impressed with the wide range, and colourful presentation of goods in this market. And it was quite vibrant.
We bought a roll of yummy, locally made salami to take away with us, then wandered around some more, admiring Christchurch's beautiful historic buildings. We thought Christ's College, the oldest independent school in New Zealand, to be a standout.
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| Christ's College, Christchurch (founded in 1850) |
We also wandered into areas that were destroyed by the earthquake, and were saddened to see so many partially ruined buildings that are still standing, but looking dismally unused.
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| Waipara vineyard, NZ |
Disappointingly, we found that most were closed for harvesting. But then we were directed to Waipara Springs winery.
Ten-minutes later, we arrived and were delighted to find it open. What's-more, they had a restaurant which was set outdoors on grass, with most tables having an umbrella to shelter from the day's hot sun. The attractive setting lured us to stay for lunch.
We ordered a platter to share, and a glass of Waipara Springs Pinot Gris each, and really enjoyed our stop in the sun. It was a delightful setting with great food and wine, and very good service; so, a great find.
After lunch, we headed to the seaside town of Kaikōura. As we arrived, we admired the interesting coastline and city beach area. Deciding to stay there overnight, we drove around looking for a nice spot to camp.
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| Yachts resting in Kaikōura harbour, NZ |
We finally found a B&B right around the point from the township, that had a paddock set up for freedom camping. It was a good choice as we had a lovely view of the sea and it was very peaceful.
After a good night’s sleep, the next morning we checked out Kaikōura. We wanted to see how it was going following the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake where much of the town and surrounding area was heavily damaged.
In fact, the bay and surrounding region were raised by as much as 2 metres as a result of that quake. We could see the white exposed rocks around the shoreline, that used to be part of the seabed.
Following a good look around, we carried on along the coast, still heading north.
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| Southern fur seals mother and pup, Kaikōura, NZ |
Just out of Kaikōura, we stopped to view some southern fur seals. There were lots and lots of mothers and babies playing in the water, and sunning themselves on the rocks.
The drive along the Kaikōura coast was spectacular. The SH1 road is squeezed in between the rocky coastline with its dramatic seascape, and the towering Kaikōura ranges.
We could see that major road works had been carried out to improve the highway after the big Kaikōura earthquake that destroyed it. There were now many places to safely stop to view the ocean, and we were impressed by the installation of several pieces of cultural artwork that depict the history and whakapapa of the area.
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| Golden rolling hills of Marlborough, NZ |
As we drove north, we passed through several different landscapes, including the famous Marlborough wine area. We loved its rolling hills of gold, showing the occasional dark green of a vineyard under a sombre grey sky.
Marlborough wines are known world-wide, with the most prominent being Sauvignon Blanc. Currently, this area produces three-quarters of all New Zealand wine.
Eventually, we reached the town of Blenheim, and stopped for a break and a walk around the town.
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| Historic rotunda and clocktower, Blenheim, NZ |
It seemed very quiet when we were there. As with many other places we’d been to on this trip, international tourism has ground to a halt, and Blenheim as a wine region town would normally be buzzing, but is now not.
After our walk, we stopped for diesel and refilling of our gas bottle, then pushed on to Picton for the night.
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| Picton Harbour and surrounding houses |
We decided to stay at the Picton Campervan Park as it was close to the ferry terminal, allowing for an early start the next morning.
In the afternoon we walked into Picton town and found it to be a tidy and quite vibrant little place. We had a nice walk through the shopping streets, around the port and marina, and past its arts precinct, before heading back to camp.
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| The Little Theatre in vibrant Picton |
Later, we organised our gear so that when we arrived back in Wellington it would be easy to off-load, before returning Vwhā the same afternoon.
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| Picton Harbour and car ferries back to Wellington, NZ |
We’ve touched base with rural New Zealand, got to see places that we had only read about, seen earthquake recovery that has amazed us, walked on ancient ice, seen some beautiful native bush and birds, and done lots of lovely walks.
Best of all, we got to do it in a nice motorhome, at our own pace. Loved it!
This is part of a bigger blog on our travels around the South Island of New Zealand. The first blog is called “NZ's South Island-the top”
Oh so beautiful. Fortunate you were to see it at a leisurely place with few people around! Cecilia
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