Thursday, 23 Feb.  Long, intermittent drive.  A lot of construction stops.  I do mean a lot!!  Most are just spot repairs, but they also were doing tree removals and lawn cutting.  The road had a lot of big trucks too, going from the ferry port to Christchurch and back.  The road wasn’t meant for trucks so big.  BTW, virtually all roads have only two lanes.

Drove past a sad motorcycle scene.  A biker within a group had apparently lost control and gone off the road.  I was just minutes away.  While I was stopped, someone put a blanket over the rider.  I read in the news report that he died at the scene.  There was no clear reason for the accident, though there were periods of significant fog in the area.  From what I gather the riders were part of a defunct church group.  Warriors of Zion.

Got back to Christchurch, had KFC for lunch, put my rented GPS and cell phone in the mail, and organized my packing for Fiji.  Not a busy day. One picture.

Wednesday, 22 Feb. Walked by the new government office building, which looks like an upright turbine.  Wellington is full of abstract art and this building is no exception.

Spent most of the ferry ride talking with folks from Colorado, swapping stories.  They’d done a European river cruise that I’m doing next year.  It’s a small world.  The ferry was different.  Had a movie theater!

Stopped at a few wineries, including Cloudy Bay, which is common in the USA.  Very, very posh.  The pourer was from LA, which was a bit of a letdown.  She certainly knew her wine though.  Very nice time.

The road I’m taking is the alternate to the coast highway 1, which still has a closed section from the 2011 earthquake. This road was not meant for so much traffic, though the authorities are doing a thorough job of keeping it in good shape.  This means there’s a lot of work going on.  I had to stop at least a half dozen times for one-way traffic.  My overnight stop, and B&B, was the only place I could get a reservation, and it’s quite a place.  The quality is totally lost on me, but I had very pleasant conversations with the other lodgers.  The host was out of his head with shock that I wouldn’t stay for the second B, but I needed to get back on the road.  Tomorrow I have to be in Christchurch to prepare  for an early morning flight Friday to Fiji.  Road conditions are a concern.

From yesterday. Sushi, NZ style.

This monstrosity is the secondary city office building, sitting next to their 100+ year old building. Just awful.

Cloudy Bay truck.

Vineyard and backdrop.

Tuesday, 21 Feb.  A significant chunk of the day was touring exhibits regarding New Zealand’s involvement in World War I.  Their participation is considered a signature event in NZ’s evolution into a unique entity (the other key event happened years earlier, when the “All Blacks” rugby team visited England and thoroughly cleaned their clocks.) Two exhibits in two museums, and both were spectacular. One was the finest exhibit/timeline of military action I’d ever seen.  Blended emotion and factual storytelling perfectly.  The other one was a little long on, well, being long.  But both illustrated that the country has a great deal of pride in their participation in world events.  They do have a disproportionate number of  war memorials.

Other parts of the museums were also excellent.  A lot more of First Nation history than I expected.  The settlers and natives seem to have had a much better relationship than ours.  It was all very well done.  It was odd to see history that really only began in the 1830s.  It’s not Rome, Italy.  It’s not Rome, New York either.

I found myself in the “Cuba” district, which is less about Cuba than it is about the university nearby.  Apparently there is a strong push to legalize pot.  (There are an uncommonly large number of barber shops in this town.  I was tempted.)

Since I arrived there had been a lot of Cricket on TV, but suddenly it’s all Rugby.  Seasons change.

Locks on bridges. Worldwide.

See the next photo.

Yes, you can jump into the bay. I suppose it’s usually cleaner than when I saw it. At least I hope so. The water was clear, but there was a lot of jetsam.

Abstract art. They house toilets.  Not so abstract.

Their main museum. Itself, a work of art.

Meat pie. Not my cup of tea. Their apple pie is neither pie, nor are there many apples in it. Carrot cake-like.

Yes, it’s over a bar.

A brewery, next to a university.

Contradiction in marketing.

The exhibit had sections, each one beginning with an oversized display. These models, if standing, would be about 10 feet tall.  Extremely well done.

Interesting way to carry a rifle.

Written on the beach at Gallipoli during WWI.

Monday, 20 Feb.  Took a ferry to the North Island and the capitol city of Wellington.  Left the car on the South Island.  Minimal clothing/sundries.

The ferry was late.  From the reaction of “regulars”, I sense it’s often the case.  Not that many walking passengers, which was surprising.  Some old American cars.  A few motorcycles.  Side comment: There are surprisingly few Harley bikes.  People dress like they’re on Harleys, but they’re riding Suzukis and such.  Of course, BMW riders dress like BMW riders.

Wellington is compact.  Easy to get around.  Very pretty.  Everyone is also very, well, calm.  No one is rushing.  English reserve I guess.  Many backpacker hostels.  Had dinner at a bar with “Believe It OR Not” Quiz Night.  Extremely organized.  I stayed for two rounds.  Round One: Famous people’s tattoos.  I knew Pam Anderson, and would probably have guessed Lady Gaga.  Round Two: Sports and Games.  Four Questions about Cricket, two of Rugby, one of men’s field hockey, one of Scrabble(!).

Hotel stunk.  Literally.  8 stories with an atrium.  Each room has a small kitchen that I’m guessing exhausts to the atrium.  Kimchi, curry, fish, etc.  There’s also some construction going on, so drying cement.  I asked for some air freshener.

(At the bar, when asked the obligatory question “Where are you from?” by a server, I said “I’m from the South Island.”  He laughed, said “good answer”.)

The ferry carried a Komatsu ore carrier, in two parts. Massive, with about a foot clearance.

The long waterway had individual homes in dozens of little bays. No roads, but they did have power lines. Very nice.

Wellington. A clean, organized, compact city. A little more abstract art than I’d like. Most of the downtown is on “Reclaimed” land. A more refined term than landfill.

Train Station. Reminiscent of Harry Potter.

“The Father of Wellington.”

I love their humor.

The Cable Car begins in the middle of downtown, then goes through a series of tunnels before reaching the top.

See the video.

Sunday, 19 Feb.  I trusted my GPS to take me along the coastline (shortest route), but it sent me inland.  By the time I’d realized the error, I was too far along.  So there will be about 20km of repeated  road travel on Thursday.  Drat.  It’s probably just as well.  I did some coastline driving later on, and it was really slow going.

Today was mostly just driving.  I discovered a bike trail where an option is to park your car at the finish, then take a helicopter flight (with your bike) to the trailhead.  I stopped at a swinging bridge (which I had planned to stop at on Thursday) which was an experience.  They had a cable slide coming back that I skipped.

Impressive morning cloud formation.

Take a helicopter flight, with your bike, to the trailhead. This nation surely loves bikes and helicopters. What seaplanes are to Alaska, helicopters are to NZ.

Old mining country. Not for the timid.

Bouncy, but not scary for me. I’m afraid of falling, but not of heights. The weight of the cabling alone far exceeded the weight of the humans on it.

The caption reads “Waihopai Satellite Communications Monitoring Station, or as we call it in New Zealand ‘The Spy Base'”.

These are itty-bitty sailboats boats for children. They had a competition. Not to be forgotten is that New Zealand first took the America’s Cup away from the USA.

Is it a photo of a picture? No.

Cool idea.

Fox Glacier was frankly a bust.  I checked out and got down to Franz Joseph, then walked the ninety minute round trip to the viewing area for their glacier.  It was okay.  After Alaska, that’s about all one can say.  I was happy to challenge myself to the estimated time.  They said ninety minutes.  Even with several stops, I did it in that amount of time.

What seaplanes are to Alaska, Helicopters are to NZ.  But $220 for a 30 minute flight?  No.  I’ve been in a helicopter, I’ve walked in the snow.  They did at least give a good perspective of the size of the glaciers.  Monstrous.

I got to Greymouth and did the Monteight’s Brewery tour.  It too was okay.  Beautiful shoreline.  Lots of driftwood.

Alternative Fact: They named this Walk after me. Beautiful.

This “ice” is at least 500 meters down from the ice you can clearly see.

Can you see the helicopter? Tiny.

I like this one a lot.

Not my kind of beach.