7. East Coast, South Island, NZ

Cross-crossing the South Island is becoming a common occurrence and this morning we got up early, set our compass for East and headed for Arthur's Pass, once an ancient Maori track and now a stunning drive and one of the few routes across the Southern Alps. I don't generally like being in a car for too long but this was a very enjoyable couple of hours of driving.

Interestingly the vegetation changed completely as we descended East and by the time we reached the eastern coast it was a barren scorched brown landscape we were entering; apparently there has been no significant rainfall for 3 months here.  

Akaroa (meaning 'long harbour' in Maori) was where we had booked in for 3 nights, at a superbly located waterfront inn opposite the main wharf, to have a travelling break and a little holiday in this beautiful, photogenic area, situated inside an old volcano crater.  The harbour is gorgeous and the small town full of immaculate and colourfully painted weatherboard cottages was once full of French settlers, so many of the road signs read 'Rue Jolie' or 'Rue Lavaud'.  We met a very nice English couple on a stroll to the lighthouse (who took this photo for us) who had just spent 5 weeks in Australia and were now commencing a 5 week New Zealand tour too, and we thought we were doing well!

We wanted to take to the water and see some local wildlife so boarded an 'Akaroa Dolphins' excursion for the afternoon.  

Sitting at the front out on deck we got to see the whole harbour, went right out into the South Pacific Ocean, and were thrilled to see so many pods of Hector's dolphins, curious of our vessel and wanting to race right infront our of boat, riding the bow waves. There were mother and cub pairs swimming very close and lots of groups of 3, 4 or 5 dolphins just metres away, diving and fizzing through the water.  We saw several of the very cute little blue penguins, fur seals, shags, cormorants and a variety of seagulls, and loved our trip.

The town is busier with tourists in the daytime, especially from the cruise ships. Since the Christchurch earthquake a couple of years ago cruise ships are unable to dock near there so pull in to the Akaroa Harbour instead (83 ships per year) which has been a huge boost for the local economy. It is much quieter in the evenings and there are some wonderful strolls to be had around the harbour edge plus a number of lovely restaurants. We had two scrumptious meals whilst here, both at French restaurants, but accompanied by excellent local wine. One thing that amused me was when we ventured to the local library to take advantage of some free wifi where the steps outside and every seat inside were full of fellow tourists all doing the same; the librarians seemed quite unperturbed.

Loving my treks I dragged Steve out once again for a spot of hiking, this time to the top of the old volcano crater rim to look down upon the whole harbour below.  Armed with a map of walks from the visitor centre we drove up a very scary steep single track gravel route with sheer drops on the side, which I hated.  However, I had chosen a ridge walk which was really great and we had a real birds eye view from the top

There were lots of incredibly steep sections going down but we took it slowly in the midday heat.

I really like the way Maori names for places have been retained and it has been a good opportunity here with a super museum to learn a lot more about the culture and history.

Onwards and upwards, as we rather sadly left the beautiful Banks Peninsula for the earthquake-hit city of Christchurch.  The guidebooks describe it as a peaceful-garden-city, a snapshot of England in New Zealand, which for a moment it was (especially for those of us who live near to Cambridge with punting children) as we strolled down Oxford Terrace, along the Avon River to the botanic gardens.

Then reality struck us. The centre is one huge building site, packed full of closed roads, cones, cranes, scaffolding, construction traffic and men in hard hats.  It is very noisy and really not worth visiting, in my opinion, until it is reconstructed as there is nothing much to see.  The cathedral, the centrepiece building of Christchurch, is one of the few remaining old buildings left, and it all seems very sad.

On a more cheerful note we sped north up Highway 1 and found another wonderfully empty beach for our lunch stop in the warm sunshine (Steve can just be made out in the centre, infront of the bushes).

Kaikoura is a world famous whale watching destination and noted for its marine life, black volcanic sand, peninsula and mountain backdrop. We decided to combine all of these elements into our peninsula walk for the day and set off round the beach, enjoying the Seaward Kaikora Range in the distance.  Whaling was a prominent industry here initially and we learnt lots of information about 'flensers' on our trek, and despite looking very hard we were not lucky enough to see any tail flukes out at sea today.  The tide was out and the coastline was nice and rocky for us to walk along, Steve thought it hilarious when I almost tripped over a large dozing fur seal.

We saw many more seals further round the coast, basking in the sunshine and camouflaged in the rocks or bull kelp.

It was a very hot day and the ground everywhere seemed so dry with any grass reduced to a dusty brown and there was very little shade for us.

This was supposed to be a 3 hour walk but with some bird watching and wildlife spotting, rock scrambling and a leisurely lunch we managed to take over 5 hours.  The nice thing about us having such a long tour is that we can take our time and just relax and keep enjoying the views.  

Tomorrow we are back in the car as we venture to the northern coast.