March 6th - Goodbye NZ

I've been slack on the blogging since returning to Napier - sorry about that. I am writing this in Auckland airport - we take off for Hong Kong in a couple of hours.


Our last day in Picton was warm and sunny and it was hard to believe there had been a huge storm the day before. However, when we checked in for the ferry, we were warned that it was very rough indeed in the Cook Strait and we would be delayed as they had to take extra measures to strap down the trucks and other large vehicles. Here is the interislander coming into port and turning around before docking.

We finally left Picton at about 3.15pm and Rick, who is a notoriously bad sailor, had upgraded to the luxury lounge and taken a pill to knock him out. Actually, we all took one as it seemed advisable given the dire warnings. I was secretly quite looking forward to it but in the end it wasn't really bad at all and we all dozed through it, courtesy of the Avomine. I've had worse sea conditions across the Channel - and much worse on one celebrated occasion 25 or so years ago in 'the ambulance'. We duly arrived in Wellington at about 7pm and drove back to Napier - in bed by midnight.


We have had a couple of fairly quiet days before departing this evening. Last night we had a barbecue with Rick and Judi's friends - many of whom we have met several times now over our three visits. It was a really good evening but I slightly overdid things on the electric soup front and felt a bit out of sorts this morning. I really must learn to 'just say no' to the Glen Slayer that inevitably sneaks out of the cupboard at the end of the evening but perhaps if I've not learned this by now, I never will. 

Today we visited Classic Sheepskins (owned by Maurie,on Judi's left above) and invested in slippers, hats etc and then we went to Shed2 on the waterfront for lunch, which the girls will remember. 

So that's it for NZ 2012! I hardly need to say we had a good time - hopefully that shines through - especially from the pictures.


Many thanks to Rick and Judi for everything - putting the whole trip together and looking after us. Thank you too to all their friends, who might be reading this, for making us feel so welcome. Napier is a special place for us, not only because it's beautiful and home to two of our best friends in the world, but also because you are such a great bunch of people! We will miss you all - until next time. Of course, if any of you want to come and visit the beautiful city of Canterbury in England, then you are welcome to come and stay. Rick and Judi will put you in touch.


Lastly, a special thank you to our daughter Ellie for the loan of her wonderful camera, which has produced some amazing images to remind us of such a great holiday - a select few of which you have seen on this blog. 

March 3rd - Chilling in Picton

We have had a very relaxed day after all the charging about of the last 10 days - and the storm has passed through. We had a lot of rain and strong winds in the night which blew the patio furniture around a bit - but this is a sheltered spot and we were spared the worst. The most serious damage was on the West coast of North Island. We heard one of those news reports on the radio where they desperately struggle to find someone with something interesting to say. Eventually they found a guy who said "there's a few houses here with no roofs but many houses with some roofs." That's OK then - so long as there are enough roofs to go round! But here the weather was fine and calm today.

It's hard to believe that a few miles away in the Cook Straight it's too rough even for a fairly large ship like the Interislander. 


We are in a lovely spot here in the Marina and this is a really comfortable apartment. We went into Picton for lunch - watched an old Brad Pitt film (Kalifornia) and then went for a nice walk among the boats.

All in all - my kind of day! As we were musing on our time in South Island we were reflecting on the end of this particular musical era in our stellar careers - but still time to get together one last time for ... The Final Cut.

We are all booked in for the ferry at 1315 tomorrow - so we will back in Napier late tomorrow evening.

March 2nd - mood indigo

There's a Storm front coming....


We left Rakaia at 8.30am perhaps feeling a tad tired and emotional as the previous night's libations were on the liberal side. We checked the van back in at Pacific Horizon and resumed our journey northward in Rick's truck.

and then there were three...

In 48 hours we have driven almost the entire East coast of South Island. We arrived here in Picton at about 5pm and we are staying at an excellent waterside apartment near the Waikawa marina. We have a great view up the sound...

...but as you can see the weather is closing in and we've just heard that all sailings to Wellington are cancelled for tomorrow with predicted 7 metre swells. It is supposed to be better on Sunday but we will have to wait and see. So we are going to be stuck here at least two nights. More news when we have it.


We learned on the news today that Christchurch cathedral is now damaged beyond effective repair following the most recent earthquakes in December. While it is obviously a tragedy it does seem to me that they don't have much choice other than to demolish it. As much as possible will be recovered from the building to be incorporated into a replacement cathedral. However, there were a lot of people on the news complaining about the decision.

1st March - Albert Ross!

Only my girls will understand the title - but for anyone who really cares, Google Ralph McTell, Alphabet zoo.


I mentioned that the coast road to Portobello was slightly scary - and that is because there is 18 inches between you and the Ocean with no kind of barrier. It was easier on the way back because you're on the inside.

We carried on to the end of Harrington Point to visit the Royal Albatross Centre. This is the only mainland Royal Albatross breeding ground in the world so definitely worth seeing. If I have given the impression that we've had bad weather then that is wrong - we have actually had perfect weather for whatever we wanted to do. In order to see the Albatross fly we needed strong cold southerly winds - and that's exactly what we had this morning. This is because these birds are primarily gliders and they need steep slopes to take off and strong winds to stay in the air. They spend 90% of their lives out at sea and only come on shore to breed. At this time of year the females are keeping their chicks warm.

The Royal Albatross has a wingspan around 3 metres plus and watching them fly around was truly wonderful.

The site of the Albatross Centre was built over a military installation. The Russians developed a naval base at Vladivostok in the 1870s and sailed into Wellington which put the wind up the naval authorities here. So they staffed up the peninsula and installed an amazing disappearing gun that popped up and fired and then retracted - made in Newcastle. The only trace of the barracks is the cells cut into the hillside. This made us think of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison and we felt a live album coming on.

Jane Chapman says we need to smile more on our album covers but this is ridiculous. We suffer for our Art. What does she think we are - a bunch of tourists?


On our way back to Dunedin we called in at Larnach Castle which is billed as the only castle in New Zealand. Actually it's not really a castle - just a smallish Victorian mansion with a few crenellations. 

But nevertheless - it has a fascinating history which you can check out on their website. Also, the view from the top was awesome!

We then resumed our journey northward back to Christchurch. Since we left Gore the day before we had been sharing the route with the railway. Most of the way it is just a few yards from the road. It's single track and not electrified. Unlike railways in the UK there are no protective fences. The railways were built in the 1860-1880 period - but these days they are little used. Freight trains still travel between Dunedin and Christchurch but road transport has almost totally taken over. The railways are narrow gauge (3ft 6in compared to the standard gauge used in the UK of 4ft 8 1/2 in) because that lowered the cost of construction over the various mountain passes etc. 

This shot was taken at a place called Rakaia - the site of New Zealand's longest bridge. After crossing, we turned off the main road towards the sea - hoping to find a nice place beside the river. In the end we went all the way to the coast and stopped here - though it was a bit crowded....

We enjoyed our last night in the van with the help of some tasty NZ reds - Syrah from CJ Pask and Cabernet Sauvignon from Mission Estates. Sadly we began to pack up - and so encountered Camper van mystery no.3....

I suppose the obvious answer is that they were skulking in a dryer we used at one of the camp sites but that, dear reader, is a dull explanation is it not? Alas on this occasion the thargs must be exonerated as these knickers had the conventional two leg holes, whereas thargs hav three legs "as any fule kno".