New Zealand, the land of the Kiwi bird, of sheep and cattle, mountains, rivers and lakes, and beautiful natural scenery. And Christchurch, the city that two years ago suffered two serious earthquakes and has had at least 10,000 follow-up tremors since then.
When we arrived in Christchurch, we found it to be much cooler than we had anticipated especially after Australia but our welcome was warm. On our first night there, we went to the home of a New Zealand family for a typical New Zealand home-cooked dinner. Our meal consisted of roasted lamb with mint sauce, vegetables fresh from their garden and the traditional dessert of Pavlova, a meringue base filled with whipped cream and covered with kiwi, peaches and strawberries.
They, like many others, had suffered some earthquake damage to their home although it was not extensive because they lived on the outskirts of town. The downtown section was the hardest hit. Even the hotel we were staying in still had some cracks in the walls and scaffolding remained around some outside areas of the building.
Christchurch, founded in July of 1856 is the second largest city in New Zealand with a population of 367,700 people. On our second day there, we were driven around to see the earthquake damage, especially to the downtown area which was almost decimated in some areas. Many of the buildings had to be demolished while others, particularly those that have heritage value, are still being worked on in an effort to preserve them. Many have container cars placed in front of the facades to prevent them from crumbling or toppling over. It was a sad sight to see. During the second earthquake, 185 people lost their lives. A memorial in the downtown area had been established for them.
Because of the extensive damage, many restaurants had been closed, as well as hotels and tourist attractions. As a result, there were fewer places in Christchurch that we could visit. A group of us took a cab to the Botanical Gardens and walked around. I admired many of the towering, majestic trees, some apparently more than 120 years old. The flowers were still colourfully prominent and there didn’t appear to be any major earthquake damage to this area. The Botanical Garden was begun by the planting of a solitary oak in 1863. It is bordered on three sides by Hagley Park and in some areas you can see the gently flowing Avon River beside it.
We also visited the Canterbury Museum established in 1867 but not opened to the public until 1882. The museum specializes in early Maori, European settlement and Antarctic exploration and was extremely interesting to look through. Over the years the building has been added to several times. During the recent earthquake the building did sustain some minor damage to its facade. However, it is suspected that there was not as much damage as might have been were it not for the earthquake upgrading that was done during the latest addition.
Following our visit to the museum, we decided to walk back to our hotel, a distance of about three miles. It was quite pleasant when we started out but it turned into a downfall halfway there. However, it was a fairly warm rainfall so once we were wet, it wasn’t really that unpleasant. And after a stop at a Chinese restaurant for a nice hot bowl of soup, we were ready to go again. Well, almost.
From Christchurch we caught the Tranz Alpine Express for the scenic trip through the Southern Alps to Franz Josef Glacier Region. We chugged our way up picturesque mountains, across trestles with rivers flowing far below, passed scenic lakes, enjoyed the lush greenness of valleys where sheep and cattle grazed happily in the meadows and enjoyed the wonders of all this fabulous nature.
The Tranz Alpine Express, operating since the end of 1987, has an on-board cafe, large windows for excellent viewing and an open air carriage in the middle of the train to even better see the passing scenery. After about three hours of travelling, we bid adieu to our train life and again boarded the bus for the remainder of our trip to Franz Josef Glacier Region. We spent the night there before heading out the following day for Queenstown.
The landscape between Franz Josef and Queenstown was stunning with the rainforest, the twisting coastline, magnificent waterfalls and green glacial lakes. One lake which was particularly impressive was Hawea Lake. At its longest point it is 35 km long and at its deepest, it is 392 metres. But most striking is its natural beauty.
So far New Zealand has not been a disappointment. It surpasses any of my expectations with its beautiful and diverse scenery, the mountains, rivers, waterfalls and lakes. Our next stop is Queenstown. Can it get any better than what we have seen so far?
