Going South (Redux)

After "slaving"at work for over 3 months, it is time for a little time off and a chance to revisit our former haunts on the South Island. When you tell the North Islanders you are headed south, they reflexively say "It's COLD there!".

Despite the characteristically cheerful forecast from the Timaru Herald, the Northerners were right. A few days earlier, Christchurch was blanketed in snow and the airport closed for a day. There was still a chill in the air and snow on the ground. This was our first visit to Christchurch after last year's tragic February 22 quake.

This was our first visit to Christchurch after last year's tragic February 22 quake. When we departed Timaru the end of February 2011 we planned to visit friends and leave via ChCh (as it is abbreviated here), but that was not an option. Renewing acquaintanceships with two ex-pat American families topped out priority list.  Once more, we were treated to a delicious dinner at the home of Michele Dhanak (a doctor from the Bay Area), her daughter Savita, and her partner Howard. It is difficult to comprehend the stress and trauma these locals have experienced in the last year. They are still in the home we visited before, but like many homes it has not been completely cleared as fit, only deemed not in need of urgent abandonment and destruction. Since it is a rental, a decreased supply of homes has caused an increased demand and raised rents all over, and they fear that may force them to move.

Christchurch: City of Cranes

I had a chance to walk-through of the parts of the Central Business District open. The skyline is forested by cranes at work rebuilding and the air flooded with the sounds and dust of demolition of condemned buildings.

It is easy to spot the 19th Century Heritage buildings, mostly made of brick with elaborate stone facades and spires: they are blocked off and destined for destruction or extensive and expensive rebuilding. The most famous and controversial of these is the most iconic structure in the center of town, the Christchurch Anglican Cathedral. After much soul-searching, the church officials decided rebuilding would not be feasible, and started the process of careful dismantling and preserving what they could, while soliciting ideas for constructing a new Cathedral.

Close-up of the remains

Long view down to the cathedral

There is significant local opposition, and as you can imagine it is a very emotional issue.

My feelings towards the current state of New Zealand's second largest city were mixed. The amount of destruction and ongoing uncertainty is tragic, but the evidence of the optimism and resiliency of  locals is heartening. They have reopened some central businesses in brightly painted shipping containers in the "Re:Start Mall".

Re:Start Mall

A number of the cafes and restaurants around town also are operating out of shipping containers and food trucks.

We were able to visit neighborhoods we didn't have time to visit previously, like New Brighton, a seaside resort noted for its pier and long stretches of sand. It was a beautiful sunny day.

Fun for the whole family

We then drove to Lyttleton, Christchurch's harbour, a tiny community devastated by the quakes. 38 historic buildings have been lost. Further along the coast is Governors Bay, where our friend David Cohen (Paula's brother) lives now. We were invited out for dinner with David and his wife Susan and daughter Naomi in their new home overlooking Lyttleton and the harbour. Their prior beloved home in the city was doomed by the first quake. It has been a very unsettled and difficult time for them, to say the least, but it was great to see them again and be welcomed to the beautiful new home.

View Back to Lyttleton from Governors Bay

After a two night stay, we headed further south, stopping by the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in the suburb of Wigram Park, named for Sir Henry Wigram, the man most responsible for New Zealand having an Air Force. Come here if you like beautiful old planes, like this one, the Blériot XI (a replica).

The story is that this was the first plane in the New Zealand Air Force, a gift of  the UK, flown once by the only man in the country able to pilot it. He allegedly offended certain high officials by taking a comely young lass up for the first flight and not one of them, He was fired, and since no one else could fly it, it was dismantled and returned to sender.
Or the Sopwith Pup, the lesser-known cousin of the Camel.

The museum is also home to the longest-serving member of the RNZAF, the 75th squadron's mascot  Flight Lieutenant Henry B. Fanshaw (Ret). Henry was on duty from WWII through 2001, when the 75th was disbanded, and had a very colorful history (see link).

Flight Lieutenant Henry B. Fanshaw (Ret.)

Ashburton is a one-hour drive south of ChCh, and where my friend and Yank colleague from Timaru Camille Hemlock (yes, that's her real name) lives with her partner Frank Ash currently live. We had met C&F in Auckland for dinner last month, and they very generously hosted us in a suite and to dinner at the hotel, which Frank manages. If you ever pass through, I highly recommend a stay with Frank and the Hotel Ashburton. We met Camille's prize chooks (aka: "Gallus gallus domesticus", or chickens to you and me).

.Other Ashburton attractions include the Giant Spinning Wheel (and craft shop)....

and the clocktower and "Love Me Tender" sculpture in the central square.

I wanted to make it to Timaru by Tuesday evening, when the senior doctors meet informally for dinner. I have learned to be cautious about re-visiting special places. Sometimes they seem not so special the second time around. But Timaru felt so familiar and comfortable, as if we had been away for a long weekend. It was great to visit my old work-mates at the hospital. We took a walk in the Botanic Garden, and passed another frequent garden stroller with her dog Sofie. She greeted us warmly asked where we have been. Even the proprietor of the Indian restaurant noted we hadn't been in a while. The view across the Canterbury plains from the hospital is still inspiring to me, although this is not the best photo.

We only had two more days in the South, and I decided to stop by two of my favorite near-by places: Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo. (Some of these photos will look familiar to followers of my first NZ blog.

 

 

Lake Tekapo

Friday we flew back to Auckland, then Saturday June 16th back to the States for two weeks: Father's Day, Sofia's BD, Christine and Doug's wedding, and CME at UCSF.... more on that next time.

Coromandel On the Queen's BD

The Queen's Birthday, observed this year in NZ June 4th, is an occasion for a three-day weekend throughout the Commonwealth, but it is virtually never on the Queen's real birthday, and is celebrated on different days in different countries (or in the case of Australia, different days in the same country). We used it as an excuse to take a trip to the Coromandel Peninsula, resuming a journey from January 2011 interrupted by Typhoon Wilma. I was unsure about the weather as it has been a bit "dodgy" as they say here, and I knew it can rain like crazy over there. The weather reports are no help. The newspapers forecasts come in "Fine", "Mostly Fine", and "Fine, with Showers". It turned out to be a spectacular weekend, the best weather in a  month.

The peninsula juts out east of Auckland, separating the Hauraki Gulf from the Pacific Ocean. Friday night we took a 2.5 hour shuttle ride around the Thames estuary to Coromandel Town, a charming Mendocino-esque village of 1,500.

The whole area has a Mendocino/Kauai/counterculture/Green/retro vibe that is very familiar.
Day One we rented a car an drove up to the northern tip of the Coromandel. Many roads are gravel and very narrow, but the traffic is light.

Coming over the hillock, you can see the Great Barrier Island beyond the white sands of Port Jackson.

A few more kilometers away, the road ends at Fletcher Bay, which is also the beginning of the Coromandel Walkway around the rugged East Coast (like a mini Lost Coast back home).

Fletcher Bay

What can I say? It was just beautiful.

Day Two was time for a drive over to the east side. First stop was Whangapoua, a lovely spot in its own right.

It is also is the gateway to New Chums Beach, which has the distinction and/or curse to get the ridiculous designation in 2006 of being one of the 20 Best Deserted Beaches in the World by The Observer, a UK newspaper. The beach is protected somewhat because there is no road access and you have a short walk over some large rocks and a muddy trail to reach it, but it is worth it.

New Chums looking North...

and South

After a quiet stroll the length of the beach, we drove next to Whitianga in time to catch a Glass Bottom Boat tour of the coastline and the Hahei Marine Reserve. The volcanic rock and pumice makes for dramatic cliffs, caves, and blowholes. The jewel here is Cathedral Cove, which looks like this from the sea....

and like this if you hiked down to it.

Here are some other nice photos from our cruise. The Glass-Bottom part was underwhelming, the water a bit cloudy and the fishies a bit sparse.

A basking seal

The big day ended with a drive back west through the wooded hilly spine of the Coromandel along unpaved Road 309, said to be named for the time it took a horse-drawn carriage to cross it. We stopped to visit a small grove of few of the remaining ancient kauri trees, giants nearly wiped out by logging them in the 19th century.

Day Three was spent in and around Coromandel Town. A short hike out of town took us to the top of a hill and site of a former Mauri fort, or pa, with a fine view of the tidewaters and muscle and oyster farms famous in this area.

Then it was a short trip back up Road 309 to The Waterworks, a real "old school" family-owned and run roadside attraction. Part old-fashioned swimming hole, part elaborate playground, part signage with pre-email lists of Amusing Anecdotes and Fascinating Facts, and part Rube Goldbeg-inspired water-powered clocks and mechanical geegaws, it is a vanishing part of Kiwiana and a reminder of simpler times, pure family-friendly fun (and a favorite of Fayne).

The final stop was one of my favorites, the Driving Creek Railways and Potteries, the labor of love of Kiwi icon Barry Brickell, New Zealand's first full-time handcraft potter. The narrow-gauge train was all built by hand, including the engines and cars, trestles and tunnels,and initially was made to bring clay down to the potter's studio.

 

It gradually expanded over the years until it reached to boundary of his property and was open to the public. The track-side and tunnels are decorated with ceramic figures.

Barry is also dedicated to restoring native flora like kauri trees (due to mature in about two millennia), and fauna with a small vermin-proof wildlife sanctuary.

The train climbs up to the terminus to the punfully-named "Eyefull Tower" for a majestic view.

After three long and fulfilling tourist days, it was time to catch the ferry for the 2.5 hour moonlit sail

back to Auckland. We head down to the South Island next week to visit old friends and familiar places, the back to the US to do the same for two weeks, and back to work here July 1st.