Friday, March 04, 2005
From Blenheim to Blenheim
Maureen and I kayaked today in Marlborough Sound. It was a day-long guided paddle with morning tea and lunch provided. The weather was fantastic until about an hour before the end. At that point we had to paddle to our takeout point and were battling a head wind and what seemed like 1 metre high waves for that hour. It was still a great day though. We saw lots of wildlife (whitefaced herons, several types of cormorants including dozens nesting with young, sting rays and other sea life). Barry doesn’t like the water, so he stayed back at the hotel and did the Barry thing. I probably had my mosts enjoyable day of the trip (I enjoyed the paddling - I don't mean I liked not having Barry around).
Tomorrow, we take the ferry back to the North Island and spend 2 nights in Wellington. We are going to have to go the museum and find some Maori cultural events/activities there because that is one aspect of NZ life that we have not seen much of since we were in the north (Dargaville) and we gave it scant attention then. Before I sign off for tonight, I will try to briefly cover the missing bits between when we left here (Blenheim) and when we returned. I’m too tired to give it a lot of detail so you are going to get the short version. Also, Maureen has absconded with my guide book, so some of the names will be missing. I’ll have to update the blog names later. So what happened between Blenheim and Blenheim?
Christchurch – our first destination - is the 3rd largest city in NZ. It is a lot smaller than Auckland and feels it. The centre of the city (historical downtown) is gridlike and surrounded by 4 main streets. The city was created by English Anglicans in the mid 1800’s for people of like mind. It was started by a group from Christ College Oxford and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It may be my imagination, but the city still seems to have a sense of an English town – not as multicultural as, say Ottawa, stores close early and many aren’t open on Sunday, school children wear a very conservative school uniform. None of these are necessarily bad and the city is a great place to walk around. A huge park downtown, lots of other green space, wide sidewalks, interesting architecture. I’m just not sure I’d feel welcome if I were to move here though – perhaps my imagination. On the other hand, our kayak guide today is a Brit expat (here for only 2 years) and says that she found people of Christchurch very welcoming.
We stayed in Christchurch 3 sleeps (2 full days) and one of the days Maureen and I spent visiting Lyttelton, the main seaport on the South Island – more great scenery, old buildings, small roads etc. Barry did the Barry thing that day too(and cooked supper - yumm).
After Christchurch we headed south with 2 objectives in mind. We wanted to see penguins and to see the Moeraki boulders. We had originally planned to go as far south as Dunedin, where we could see lots of penguins, but we were running out of time. We determined that we could see Blue Penguins in Oamara and from there we could take a day trip to Moeraki to see the boulders. Closer and shorter travel times.
The boulders were a half day drive (there and back) to see and probably, in the end, were not worth the trip. However, if I hadn’t gone, I would have regretted not going, so – what could I do? I took lots of pictures so, you won’t have to go (unless you get into the conundrum I did). The boulders are round rocks (really?) formed by some unusual volcanic activity eons ago – sort of like large geodes. They are on a beach and most are partly buried in sand – others are broken. Originally there were smaller ones, but these have all been scavenged by tourists over the last century or so. Now they are all about 1-1.5 metres in diameter - too big to steal.
The penguins were much more interesting. The Blue Penguins are not like the ones we see in the Antarctic pictures and movies. They are small – about 30 cm high and weigh about 1 kilo.
The blue penguins go out in the ocean to fish in the very early morning (4 am) and return only at dusk (9 PM). they swim 20 kilometers or so out in the ocean to fish We viewed them from a sort of penguin viewing stadium. We arrived about 8:00 PM and watched them return to their nests from their fishing expedition. When they come back to land they scramble up on the shore through the crashing waves and stand around in groups drying off. They look a bit like little people. Once they are dried off they go to their nest and yack with the other birds. They make quite a racket.It was quite an experience seeing the birds. Unfortunately we couldnot use cameras so I have no pictures.
The final day of the south we headed north to Blenheim, where we are now. I’ve interspersed our latest Blenheim activities (except for all the drinking and carousing) throughout the last few posts, so now I’m up-to-date. Phew!!
Tomorrow, we take the ferry back to the North Island and spend 2 nights in Wellington. We are going to have to go the museum and find some Maori cultural events/activities there because that is one aspect of NZ life that we have not seen much of since we were in the north (Dargaville) and we gave it scant attention then. Before I sign off for tonight, I will try to briefly cover the missing bits between when we left here (Blenheim) and when we returned. I’m too tired to give it a lot of detail so you are going to get the short version. Also, Maureen has absconded with my guide book, so some of the names will be missing. I’ll have to update the blog names later. So what happened between Blenheim and Blenheim?
Christchurch – our first destination - is the 3rd largest city in NZ. It is a lot smaller than Auckland and feels it. The centre of the city (historical downtown) is gridlike and surrounded by 4 main streets. The city was created by English Anglicans in the mid 1800’s for people of like mind. It was started by a group from Christ College Oxford and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It may be my imagination, but the city still seems to have a sense of an English town – not as multicultural as, say Ottawa, stores close early and many aren’t open on Sunday, school children wear a very conservative school uniform. None of these are necessarily bad and the city is a great place to walk around. A huge park downtown, lots of other green space, wide sidewalks, interesting architecture. I’m just not sure I’d feel welcome if I were to move here though – perhaps my imagination. On the other hand, our kayak guide today is a Brit expat (here for only 2 years) and says that she found people of Christchurch very welcoming.
We stayed in Christchurch 3 sleeps (2 full days) and one of the days Maureen and I spent visiting Lyttelton, the main seaport on the South Island – more great scenery, old buildings, small roads etc. Barry did the Barry thing that day too(and cooked supper - yumm).
After Christchurch we headed south with 2 objectives in mind. We wanted to see penguins and to see the Moeraki boulders. We had originally planned to go as far south as Dunedin, where we could see lots of penguins, but we were running out of time. We determined that we could see Blue Penguins in Oamara and from there we could take a day trip to Moeraki to see the boulders. Closer and shorter travel times.
The boulders were a half day drive (there and back) to see and probably, in the end, were not worth the trip. However, if I hadn’t gone, I would have regretted not going, so – what could I do? I took lots of pictures so, you won’t have to go (unless you get into the conundrum I did). The boulders are round rocks (really?) formed by some unusual volcanic activity eons ago – sort of like large geodes. They are on a beach and most are partly buried in sand – others are broken. Originally there were smaller ones, but these have all been scavenged by tourists over the last century or so. Now they are all about 1-1.5 metres in diameter - too big to steal.
The penguins were much more interesting. The Blue Penguins are not like the ones we see in the Antarctic pictures and movies. They are small – about 30 cm high and weigh about 1 kilo.
The blue penguins go out in the ocean to fish in the very early morning (4 am) and return only at dusk (9 PM). they swim 20 kilometers or so out in the ocean to fish We viewed them from a sort of penguin viewing stadium. We arrived about 8:00 PM and watched them return to their nests from their fishing expedition. When they come back to land they scramble up on the shore through the crashing waves and stand around in groups drying off. They look a bit like little people. Once they are dried off they go to their nest and yack with the other birds. They make quite a racket.It was quite an experience seeing the birds. Unfortunately we couldnot use cameras so I have no pictures.
The final day of the south we headed north to Blenheim, where we are now. I’ve interspersed our latest Blenheim activities (except for all the drinking and carousing) throughout the last few posts, so now I’m up-to-date. Phew!!
