Exploring New Zealand, February 2016, Part 1

As a decade birthday gift for Erick, we signed up for "Exploring Australia and New Zealand," a University of Michigan Alumni tour coordinated by Odysseys International. This post covers the Christchurch and Mt. Cook/Aoraki portions of our visit. (You can click on a photo to see a larger version.)

Map of New Zealand with major places that we visited marked:

Day 13: We arrived at our hotel, Rydges, in Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island at near midnight. About 10 days earlier, Christchurch had experienced at 5.8 earthquake – the 8th largest since the 7.1 quake in 2010. We would see the damage from the 2010 quake during our brief tour of the city. Christchurch is built on a mud flat – a liquefaction zone in earthquake terms.

Day 14: Before starting our group walking tour of Christchurch, we made a quick visit to the temporary replacement for the Christchurch Cathedral that was damaged in the 2010 quake.  It’s referred to as the Cardboard Cathedral for its unique structure.

Christchurch's temporary cathedral

Peace cranes tree

We walked through the central business district with its 4 avenues and around the city square. 900 buildings have been demolished since the 2010 quake with about 100 more to go. The area will be rebuilt using a “precinct model” – areas for dining, shopping, entertainment, etc.

Approaching the Cathedral area

Christchurch Cathedral - earthquake damage 

View from Cathedral Square 

About Cathedral Square

Maori tribe's interaction with the English settlers

Ready to answer visitors' questions 

Trolley for touring the city

Earthquake damage is quite visible on some structures, less so on others. Some buildings were newer and more quake resistant than others:

Boy's school - reminds me of the Harry Potter movies

The bridge is dedicated to the fallen in WWI and is a
memorial to WWII and others as well.  The hope is
that repairs will be completed for ANZAC day in April.

The river is the Avon, named after the river in England  

A vivid mural and wheat sheaf sculpture capture aspects
of Christchurch's resilience, and the nearby agricultural region

After the city sightseeing, we started our bus journey of ~350 miles across the Canterbury plains with its braided rivers, into the foothills and towards the Southern Alps.

Our tour bus about to leave the Rydges hotel in Christchurch.
We spent a lot of time on this bus with our driver and local guide, Scotty.

Windbreaks are a common sight on the stations (ranches) on the Canterbury plain

Milk processing is a big industry in this part of New Zealand – powdered milk for export.  Dairy cattle stations and sheep farms were evident on the plains.  Salmon fishing is big in the braided rivers. 

Milk processing plant 

The region's braided rivers are the site of salmon fishing 

We stopped in Geraldine, a farming and services community, for a quick lunch (cheese samples and ginger nut ice cream at Tobert's Cheeses). I popped into the local museum for a few minutes.

Plains yield to rolling hills

At Morelea Farm near Fairlie, we stopped to visit with Stan, Angie and their grandson – talking with Stan about sheep farm and watching him shear a sheep, watching the sheep dogs at work, meeting an orphan calf who’s been raised with the sheep, and enjoying afternoon tea prepared by Angie.

Angie greets us

Stan (with grandson) talks about the ups and downs of sheep farming

The lucky sheep about to get "air conditioned on a hot summer day
(Note: February is summertime in Australia & New Zealand) 

Stan sheering

One pile of wool, one shorn sheep

Who's next? 

One of Morelea's herding dogs

Posters listing cattle and sheep breeds in New Zealand

Herding demonstration 

Varieties of sheep at Morelea 

Morelea's orphan calf and companions

Baa, baa, black sheep....

Angie with grandson 

Morelea's cat after a belly rub - made me wonder how our
pets, Ziggy and Sunny were doing back home.

Our tour group at afternoon tea - great sausage rolls and homemade jam

Farewell to Morelea farm

The Southern Alps come into view

At Lake Tekapo, a glacial lake at an elevation of 2000 ft, we saw the Church of the Good Shepherd and the statue honoring the sheep dogs so important to the area.

We stopped along the shore of Lake Pukaki, elevation ~ 700 ft, the largest of the 3 glacial lakes in the area. At the rest stop is a statue of a tahr, a large, goat-like animal from the Himalayas that was brought to New Zealand for sport. They are now abundant in the mountains.

We arrived at our hotel, the Hermitage in time for a late dinner.

First view from our room in the Wakefield wing

The Hermitage hotel

A daytime view from our room

Mt Wakefield from our hotel corridor

Day 15: To orient us to Mt. Cook (Aoraki), the Maori stories, and the connection to Sir Edmund Hillary related to it, we watched the 3D movie, Mount Cook Magic.  Then we were on our own to explore.

Statue of Sir Edmund Hillary looking toward Mt Cook

I chose a hike to Kea Point and Erick a longer one through the Hooker Valley.  It was extremely windy across the lowlands between the mountains – that made the going a bit rough at times.  Both of us completed our hikes and got some great photos. 

Note that there is no time listed for Hooker Valley - it's a "day hike".
I found that 1 hour was an optimistic estimate for Kea Point on a day as windy as this one was.

The trail to Kea Point goes left, the one to Hooker Valley, center and right

Views from my hike to Kea Point:

A shadow selfie to prove I made it to Kea Point

Marker showing views from Kea Point

Right hand portion of the view - Mt Wakefield, Hooker River outlet and glacial lake

Left hand portion of the view - Mt Sefton

Views from the return hike:

I didn't see any keas while hiking at Mt Cook, but this poster explains their significance.

Views from Erick's Hooker Valley hike:

Glacier melt water

Glacial lake at the end of the trail

In the afternoon, while Erick was still hiking, I watched Infinity Express, a planetarium show, and Hillary on Everest, a documentary about Sir Edmund Hillary’s successful climb of Mt. Everest – the preparation climbing Mt. Cook, the Everest expedition and his charity work for the people of Nepal.

At dinner, we got a glimpse of Mt. Cook without the clouds that usually obscure its peak.  I watched carefully all day for chances to photograph the peak and was rewarded a couple of times.

Morning view with heavy clouds 

View returning from Kea Point

Framed by clouds

Clear peak as sunset approaches

Around 10 pm, Erick and I went out to view the Southern Cross and a vivid Milky Way in a clear sky.  The Mt. Cook area is one of the world’s “dark sky” places where light pollution is minimal.

Next up: Exploring New Zealand, February 2016, Part 2 - Queenstown and Milford Sound