South Island, NZ 2009 - Day 14 and beyond

Day 14 - The last leg of traveling from a town/city to another. This time, it's from Oamaru to Christchurch. It was also the longest drive I had - 575.6 km according to the GPS datalogger! This was because I headed inland where the first stop was Elephant Rocks, near Duntroon. This place is mentioned in NZ's AA 101 Regional Must-Do list, and it was used as the location for Aslan Camp in Chronicles of Narnia.

The only place where the consecutive shots were able to be stitched into a panorama photo! :p

The "normal" view

Then moving a little further down the road, towards Omarama, you would come across a section of limestone area where it is caged. The reason was to protect the Maori art work that is left on those rocks. Some chucks of these art work are now in some museum(s) in the country. Perhaps due to the weather and all, it was not very visible, in term of the entire set, instead had to rely on the plaques there which show where the drawings were, and what it means.

Moving on, it was time to head to Omarama, where I had to ask for the local maps in order for me to get to the Clay Cliffs and lunch was again a mince pie. 10 km of private ($5 for cars, $20 for small bus and only gravel) road traveled at most, at speed of 30 km/h, was a long way to drive! It was so dusty that I had to wash the car the next day as the rear screen was literally covered with dust!

What I did not realised is that you could get a very far view of the cliff along Omarama Lindis Pass Road. But it was a good time (and $$$) spent, took quite a fair bit of photos - only for the camera to act up and I had to do some recovery when I got back to SG!!

Clay Cliffs. Except that it does not look as white as some other photos that I have seen from internet.

B&W shot of Clay Cliffs.

By the it was almost 2 pm in the afternoon. Time to speed up and head toward Mt Cook. The travel time was considered short, but given that I did not really do much other than visiting the information store kind of building... And took a shot of Mt Cook in the background, the only "fun" bit I had was to drive at around 140 km/h on those straight flat roads that leads to Mt Cook!

Since I could not do much there, time to head for Lake Tekapo instead. I had initially wanted to visit the Mt John Observatory (which till today I still do not have an idea where exactly is it!), but by the time I was heading that direction, it was not feasible, so I head for the Church of Good Shepard instead. I think that church is one of the most photographed church in NZ and it's a church that is holding service, although once every 3 weeks, rather than weekly service and is shared by 3 denominations!

Church of Good Shepherd in IR. The only way which I can offer a different view of the church, since almost everyone who visited South Island will have a photo of this place! Wait.. Did anyone took a shot of it from this angle?!?

Since the church is by the lake, we definitely will not miss a chance to take shots of the lake, right?!?!

Why is it that my shot does not show the lake's turquoise water colour!??! Hmmm....

Finally, being there, you would not have miss the dog statue that is less than 1 km from the church.

Yes, the statue looked small in the picture, but somehow I like this shot compared to the usual close up shots (which I did take)

By then, it was coming to 5pm, so it was time to head for Christchurch, and to Alexandra Court Motel.

What was not record above was the phone call I got while traveling (I believe it was from Mt Cook to Lake Tekapo) from the project manager from the site asking if I could extend my stay and head back to the site next week; as a heads-up, if he can't get resources. He would call again the next day to confirm and to see if I would want to...

Day 15 - Alarm rang at 4 am, and by 4.30 am, I was having my breakfast and called a number to hear that the flight is on. By 5 am, I was ready for my adventure - a hot air balloon flight over Canterbury region, which Christchurch is situated. It was a cold, cold, very cold morning - my fingers were not happy, as I had not thought it was that cold enough to warrant gloves for this trip!!!

We finally reached the place where the balloon was to be setup. As part of the experience, we had to help with the laying out of the envelope (the part which the hot air is held), as well a the wicker basket which we will be in... It's kind of interesting to watch and learn how they are able to create that amount of hot air to bring up the wicker basket and its passengers. They did it by using the burner to heat up the air, but along with it was this industrial standard huge fan, to blow enough air into the envelope for it to form that familiar shape!!! Finally, after an hour or so, in the super cold weather, it was ready, and we had to scramble into the wicker basket and up we go!

No, this is not the one I was in. Instead it was a smaller one, which is sometime used to chalk up flight hours for their certificate and to familiarise with the wind condition, etc. As it's smaller, it got up quicker than the one I was in. You could see a very small part of the one I was in at the top of the photo.

This was taken when that balloon was descending back to the ground.

When we landed (in someone's sheep farm), we had a glass of champagne to mark the flight, and someone read a balloon flight prayer (that's what I was told). It was only 9.30am when I was dropped off back at the motel. Rested for about an hour and had some more food as I was hungry by then.

It was time to head for Akaroa, which is famous for the French settlement by the harbour.

Wooden pier out to French Bay at Akaroa

Had m ylunch lunch there and by then, I was feeling tired and head back to Christchurch. However, I was to receive a call, which changes my itinerary. I was to head back to SG from Christchurch the next day, but with that call, I had to fly back to the North Island to the site for a week.

So, had to scramble for flights, and changing of my flights. Since I will still be around for the weekend, decided to get flight to Auckland, so that I could spend a day there, and change my return flight to SG from Christchurch to Auckland instead - cut down my NZ-SG transit time.

Day 16 - Had it not been that call, it would be flying home day, instead, I would be spending the day in Christchurch. Dropped the car off at the airport, and got on a bus service back to the hotel. Picked up the camera, and head to the centre. I thought it would be a nice day to get some shots of the Christchurch centre. Meantime, my clothes were having a wash in the washing machine.

Tower section of Christchurch Cathedral

It happened that this day was ANZAC day. So, they had a service that the Cathedral, and by the time I got to the place, the service had ended. There were stream of NZ uniformed personnel there, in different uniforms - Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, and even some other uniformed groups like the ambulance service, etc. The shops were all closed as well, till 1 pm because of this. So I just wandered around till lunch time. Had my lunch at a Japanese restaurant which turns out pretty well. I have also noticed that the variety of fish is not a wide range, but it's still very fresh.

By then, it was after 1 pm, and it was time to head to Kathmandu for their Easter sale. Yes, I do not often shop, but the weather reminds me that I should take the opportunity to stock up on such clothes especially since they are on sale!!! Bought 2 long johns for myself, and 1 cardigan and 1 long john for my mother!!! I could not find a pullover to replace the (thick, but not warm enough) sweater that I had. So, since I am already shopping, might as well head for the other (similar) shops to see if they do have any - None found.

Feet were complaining by then, and it was time to get back to the hotel to drop the bags of goodies and rest my feet. Back in hotel, open my emails, and found that the travel agent got the changes done, receipts obtained, and hotel in Auckland was booked. Time for dinner and then sleep!

Bad move that I did not download my photos, as I thought since it's only a few shots... I can wait... Bad move. Sigh. Camera acting up again...

Day 17 - It was packing time - I had earlier requested for a special breakfast of eggs on bread. With a filled stomach, head out to airport. I had to pay extra for the 2nd luggage as Air NZ now charges NZD15 per luggage when it's more than 1. So, they can allow you to have a large luggage with weight of 25kg, they cannot take 2 luggage bags that is lower than 25kg!!!

By the time I got to Auckland, it was slightly after 1 pm. Got my luggages, head out and got a little lost in terms of what to take to Sky Hotel. Should I take a shuttle or a cab. In the end, since I don't know which cab company or cab to get into, I got onto a shuttle instead.

When everything was done - got to hotel, checked in, found the way to the room, and then drop them off at the room, i headed downstairs for a light meal as it was 3 pm!!! Then took a walk down to the harbour front, but since it was Sunday, it as good as a dead town in terms of shops. There were people like me, walking around, but it like a stroll along buildings. Walked around to check out the Japanese restaurants in the area, and found most of them were closed, except 1. So, dinner was at that restaurant, then back to hotel to sleep!

Day 18 - Final day. It started off slow, I guess I was too tired/jaded by then, and there wasn't much for me, as I had time to kill before heading for airport to meet up with my colleagues who were flying that day.

Packed my stuff, and then I checked out. Saw the map and decided to head for Albert Park. What I did not know is that Auckland is pretty hilly. Sky hotel was on top of the hill, and in between Albert Park and Sky hotel, it was a walk down the slope and then back up again. Pretty tiring for someone who had not exercise for quite a while!

Fountain at Albert Park. The seagull is having some fun time, bathing using the waters in the fountain.

Headed to the harbour and saw that a cruise with lunch was only NZD38, so took it up and spend the next 2 hours in the boat.

Auckland Skyline

Beacon which the cruise passed by

So, that was the end of the activities as part of this holiday trip. 18 days... Can't remember if this beat the UK trip I had last year in terms of number of days I was in the country. Hmmm....

Anyway, That's the record of my NZ 2009 trip. Next target... was supposed to be Greece, but since mother wants to go Alaska. Looks like next year will be Alaska! Time to save up!!!