From the Dramatic Fiordlands to Rebuilding Christchurch

Those of you who know me well realise that its not often that I’m lost for words; however, our overnight trip to Doubtful Sound (named by Captain Cook, of course) in Fiordland National Park, left me quite speechless as I marvelled at the natural beauty of this untouched wilderness. We decided to visit Doubtful Sound, rather than Milford Sound, because it’s more remote (there is no road access, you have to catch a boat across Lake Manapouri then a bus journey over a high pass), and 10 times larger than its better-known cousin. It rains in Fiordland over 300 days per year, and its one of the wettest places on the planet, but we enjoyed glorious sunshine and amazing waterfalls following 3 days of rain.

After getting our first exciting view of the fiord from Wilmotts Pass we met up with our glass roofed viewing vessel and had a 2-hour cruise through the Sound, marvelling at the steep sided cliffs rising from the water and ended up at the mouth of the choppy Tasman Sea. We were then transferred to our overnight boat, the Fiordland Navigator, a large Norwegian sloop, and were introduced to our 4 berth “bunk room” that, despite being very comfortable, had a curtain instead of a door and no private bathroom – much to Adele’s angst! The boys and I thought it was great though! Before dinner, we all went kayaking for the second time in NZ – Adele is becoming quite the expert, and it was all that the boys, and I could do to stop her doing eskimo rolls and surfing on some rapids!!

Not wanting to shirk the challenge from the crew, I decided to jump off the boat into the Fiord for a swim, accompanied by Cameron’s shouts of “Dad, you’re crazy” from the side. Sadly, he proved to be right and after braving 5 minutes in the chilly, 15 -degree water, I dragged myself out with bright red skin and shivering!

Not for the first time, the people we met on the Navigator made the trip, and on this occasion we were fortunate to have an amazing 3 course buffet dinner sitting next to Tom and Helen, a charming couple from Springfield, Ohio in the US. Where they haven’t travelled to isn’t worth going to, but the boys were more interested in Helen teaching them to play the dice game Farkel, which caused great hoots of laughter and we definitely won the prize for loudest table on the boat!!

6.15am was our rude awakening as the boat engines churned into action! No rest for the wicked as breakfast was served at 7am, and we were encouraged out on deck for what can only be described as a 3 hour cruise through some of the most beautiful scenery that I have ever seen. The highlight was the skipper turning off the engines and floating in absolute silence with the cliffs rising above us! This is a place that pictures cannot ever do full justice to.

From Fiordland, it was quick trip across NZ to the east coast via Cromwell to Oamaru, 240km south of Christchurch. We had wanted to go via Mount Cook but we just couldn’t get ANY accommodation – NZ seems to be the place to be in February. Oamaru is a slightly quirky town having adopted a Steam Punk theme (Victoriana meets modern goths??) They have preserved all the old sandstone buildings here so it was very atmospheric, had a great brewery (very tasty local brews, one beer conditioned in whisky barrels and packing 9% alcohol) a local penguin colony (we saw 1 yellow-eyed penguin) and the boys’ highlight, the children’s park with an adult sized hamster wheel

Our love of seafood was sated by a visit to Fleur’s, a slightly ramshackle looking restaurant in Moeraki, but renowned for serving some of the best seafood in NZ, even Rick Stein has been there and signed the wall along with many other diners and most recently, Cameron!! Adele and I shared a platter of 5 different locally caught fish – absolutely delicious, while Ollie and Cam had blue cod (a delicacy in these parts).

Moeraki is also famous for its “boulders”, a collection of large spherical rocks buried in a long stretch of sandy beach. Ollie added another bird species to his “seen” list when we saw a Royal Albatross, with its massive 3-metre wingspan – the biggest of any bird in the world. We also went to Elephant Rocks where the battle scene in the movie “Narnia” was filmed – so an action packed few days, as ever!

Christchurch was our final destination in NZ, but because of our lack of forward planning (my fault) and the City’s hosting of the Cricket World Cup, we struggled to find any accommodation. This meant that we only had a day to explore the City that began with a visit to the famous Antarctic Centre where our ride in a “Hagglund” was voted as the boy’s favourite activity. I had to agree, although being inside the arctic storm experience ranked a close second for me.

Despite being forewarned, nothing had quite prepared us for seeing the centre of Christchurch, which was devastated by a massive earthquake in 2011. I visited the City in 1997, and I can honestly say that I didn’t recognise any part of it. Over 70% of the buildings in the City Centre have been or will eventually be demolished, and it resembles the aftermath of a war zone.

We visited Quake City, a museum telling the story of the quake with some very personal insights into the loss of life (185 people died), homes and peoples’ livelihoods. The City and its people have shown great fortitude, and it is gradually bouncing back, one of the best examples being “Restart”, a shopping village built from shipping containers. But walking around the city and seeing the many vacant sites and hoarded up buildings you can’t help thinking that it will be a long time before the City fully recovers, and the high suicide rate since 2011 shows what a profound affect the earthquake has had on the lives of the people in Christchurch.

We left our final accommodation with heavy hearts, not quite able to believe that we had arrived in NZ over 6 weeks ago, since travelled over 5,400km and stayed in over 20 different places overnight.  We’ve been touched by the warmth of the people here, and blown away by the breathtaking scenery, so this is definitely a country that will be on our  “revisit” list – maybe our next around the world trip!!??