Auckland

We're at Auckland airport waiting to board the flight home.  The last two days have been full - we've squeezed in all we could.

Spent yesterday on Rangitoto Island, just off the coast.  It has no full time residents, just a few "baches" (small cottages) left.  No building has been allowed since the 30's.  Rangitoto is one of 5 volcanoes within Auckland.  It's the youngest, having erupted from the sea only 600 years ago.  There are still large lava "rivers" where plants have not yet colonized, so it's much rougher than the other volcanic places we've visited.  Also intact lava tubes.  It's a conservation area with only indigenous plants and animals being the goal.  Beautiful views from the top, both of the city and of the many other small islands in the bay.

Today we spent walking around the downtown, with a stop at the Art Museum, which is a great building with a wonderful collection.  Lunch in Food Alley - a bunch of stalls in an arcade.  Tasty Indonesian fare was our choice.

So, at the end of two months I'm happy to say that Randy and I have done very well with all the togetherness.  I liked Australia very much - highlights for me were the penguins on Phillip Island; koalas and kangaroos; Uluru; Daintree rainforest; and the Great Barrier Reef.  I have loved New Zealand - it's been one continuous highlight.  We've been to lots of beautiful places, but I've never been anywhere that is so consistently stunning.

Auckland

Not really in the mood for going to the Auckland Museum, we asked the guy at the backpacker's reception desk what was going on that we shouldn't miss.  He said, "It's Easter.  You should go to the Coca Cola Easter Show.  It's great."  So we hopped on the city bus to check it out.

It turned out that the Easter Show is a combination country fair, circus, festival, and art show all rolled into one.  We ended up staying into the evening.  The day's entertainment included sheep shearing demonstrations (traditional manual shears and electric clippers); wool baling demonstrations, done by the top two champion wool balers in NZ; a Chinese Circus in a big top; Cook Island and Tahitian dancers; Maori singers; an Indian Bhangra band/dancers; a few other music groups; and a Canadian lumberjack show!  The art show was very large and included painting, photography, wood turning, glass and ceramics, with many very fine pieces.

It was supposed to rain today, but was beautiful until about 7:00.  Then the rain started, and although it was not pouring, we headed "home" about 8:00, missing the Brazilian Divas and fireworks.

Christchurch to Auckland

We returned to Christchurch this morning and spent most of our day at the International Antarctic Center, a fascinating place.  Can't believe Dan is going to be down there for the whole winter! We're about to check in for our flight to Auckland.

We were not sorry to drop off our camper van - Big Blue or the Luckymobile.  24 nights in a van that size is plenty.  Fortunately we had excetionally nice weather most of the time, so we were mostly inside to sleep.  Campervan was definitely the way to do this trip, but next time we'll go up one size. A backpackers in Auckland is going to feel like the Ritz!

Akaroa

We decided to spend a couple of days in the lovely little seaside town of Akaroa, on a peninsula a short drive from Christchurch, before returning to Chch for another day.  Akaroa bends around a harbor and is surrounded by hills created by volcanic eruptions.

Yesterday's highlight was the The Giant's House, a local artist's home.  It's gardens are full of large whimsical mosaic sculptures of people, animals, a piano,and more - absolutely fantastic!

The plan for today is to hike in the hills...

The drive along the road near the volcano rim is called "absurdly beautiful" by Lonely Planet.  True, and the hike we took was doubly absurdly beautiful.  We walked part of the very top of the rim - on one side we looked down into the caldera where Akaroa village and harbor are nestled, and on the other side we looked down to little inlets along Canterbury Bight (Pacific Ocean).  Spectacular - and we had it all to ourselves.

Came back to a bustling village.  It's Good Friday, a holiday here.  Easter weekend seems to be like Labor  Day for us - big travel weekend for summer's last hurrah.

Christchurch

It was a fairly short drive from Lake Tekapo to Christchurch, through lovely rolling farmland with lots of sheep and then onto the broad coastal plain.  We are in an urban campground which is landscaped with lots of roses.  

Although we were prepared to see earthquake damage here, it hit us pretty hard.  The center of the the Central business district is in shambles 2 and a half years after the first of the two big quakes.  It's surrounded by wire fencing and extreme danger signs, and nobody except construction and demolition crews are in there.  Many buildings within the "red zone" and surrounding it have been demolished and parking lots are plentiful.  Other buildings that they are attempting to save are propped up with steel framework.  75% of the buildings in the heart of the business district will be torn down.  They are still debating whether or not their cathedral can be saved, after citizens protested against its demolition.  Visiting Quake City, a small museum brought me to tears.

Around that museum the hopeful, forward thinking spirit of the city is evident.  Re:Start is a small temporary mall area with cafes and shops housed in brightly painted, cleverly stacked and arranged shipping containers.  There are large topiary animals and canvas sunshades between "buildings".  One of the shopkeepers said they expect to be there for another year.  (The other place we've seen shipping containers used for buildings in a city was for a medical clinic in Lima.  The upbeat vibe of this place was lacking there.)

Aoraki/Mount Cook

We took a detour on our way to Christchurch.  Just seemed like we couldn't drive past the road to Aoraki/Mt. Cook without going there.  Last night we were talking to a couple from Christchurch about Mt. Cook.  They said it was certainly beautiful, but it was often hard to see all of it because of clouds.  Then the man brightened up and said the forecast for today was for complete clearing and "Ye moight o' toimed it jeest roight."  And so we did.....it was a perfect day, with no clouds to block our views all day.

We weren't prepared to climb 12,000 feet (yeah, right!), so we did  a couple of smaller tracks!   One was through the Hooker Valley, between and over glacial moraine ridges, with views of Mueller and Hooker glaciers, the Hooker glacier lake and river, and Aoraki.  Really a nice hike!  A shorter one took us to a view of the Tasman glacier, NZ's longest.  It's so covered with rock and dirt that you could miss it if you didn't know what you were looking for, but the lake at its base is full of calved chunks.

We're spending the night at Lake Tekapo, another beauty.  Christchurch tomorrow, maybe.

Manipouri to Omarama

Had a great night's sleep at an excellent campground in Manipouri (excellent = clean, quiet, nice kitchen, a really nice couple that owned it, and hardly anyone there!). Didn't leave there until 10:00.  We're now headed toward Christchurch, so there will be a lot of driving for the next couple of days.  No major stops today.  Our route was back through Kawarau Gorge and the fruit- growing area, then along a small lake and into the Lindis Valley and Lindis Pass.  This mountain area was different from others we've been through.  Rather than tree-covered, the mountains are more stark and covered with tussock grass (mostly brown at this point).  Also beautiful.  We drove out from under an early morning shower.  Good to be back in the sun!  Omarama is a tiny town.