Christchurch in Spring (October)

Joan, Scott & Isabel, Bill & I at Gore Bay for our picnic

Our month here in Christchurch has flown with Bill working on Helen & Ralph's project, catching up with friends and their children who have now had children, being tourists in and around Christchurch, and having some visitors come to stay.

Tylers take over once again - this time
The Cashmere Hills

We had Joan (Bill's Mum) with us for the first two weeks, learning to use her new cell phone. At 85 new technology is a challenge. Just hope our kids have patience with us if we make it to that age and need help too. She is getting there but now needs someone living a bit closer to help her and lots of practise. Thankfully it's not expensive with phone calls these days with our phone plans - so just as easy to ring at times.

While she was staying and to give Bill a break from his work, we had a day's drive over to Diamond Harbour and around. We are staying on the Cashmere Hills, so it was out the end of the street and up over the hill into Governors Bay and around to Diamond Harbour, a beautiful scenic pathway. Must return one day and walk this trail. We found a lovely little Bar/Brewery (Dark Star) for  lunch in the settlement of Diamond Harbour.

On the wharf at Diamond Harbour
looking across to Lyttleton

Lyttleton Harbour with Jim's Fiordlander Boat
on Joan's right

While there and seeing the traffic come and go for the ferry, it was decided Bill would take his mum on the  ferry across to Lyttleton. I would drive around and meet them. The day was perfect and to complete the experience, they found that the boat they were on would have been built by Bill's Dad (Jim)'s company while he was working for them - Gough Brothers from Invercargill. Bill thinks he was on it at it's first launch on Lake Manipouri. Small world.

Lyttleton still has a lot of repair work continuing after the 2011 earthquake, but is starting to be restored to it's former glory. From Lyttleton, it was through the tunnel and back home. Nice round trip for the day and the weather couldn't have been better.

While Bill continued the renovation work for H&R, Joan and I persevered with her phone, along with nice walks up and around the area. Ideal to have a cafe at the half way point, plus from the cafe it is all down hill.

I kept up my work with the Christchurch based company that I work for on line, as well as getting on top of Helen & Ralph's lawns and gardens that were just starting to show their neglect after two months of their being away. With spring of course the lawns had taken off and with only a push mower, it was a bit of a struggle in places where the lawn had got very long. But it was a good work out over a couple of days in my new gumboots! Pretty flash boots - and now that I have them I am assuming the rain will stop throughout the country. It has been pretty good here in Christchurch. We had a few fires in the first couple of weeks but it's been quite sunny since. Although Christchurch does have that cold Easterly wind, the house is nice and sunny.

Exercising in my classy boots.

The week after our Diamond harbour excursion, it was time for another outing. This time to do Christchurch City on the Heritage Tram, which has been operating in Christchurch since 1995. For $25 each, we could get on and off the Tram as many times as we liked.

One of the three Trams we travelled on around Christchurch

Christchurch Cathedral looking very sad but now has new hopes

 The Tram does a circuit around the city centre with the Drivers doing a great narration of the city's history and the earthquake repair progression that is happening in the city. So we did a complete circuit first, before getting off and checking out New Regent St  - a lovely street that was set up back in the early 1930's in Spanish Mission architectural style - quite unique in it's time. And thankfully the earthquake didn't do too much damage in this street but enough to have it closed off for two years for repairs. It is lovely to see it busy once again with pedestrians and boutique shops.

Next point of interest was the Transitional Cathedral that is filling in for the damaged Cathedral in the Square. We had a lovely 96 year old lady as our tour guide in the church talking about the past and the future of the Cathedral, and of course the good news now that they are going to rebuild it. Although sadly as our guide said, she won't be here to see it. Being a Cantabrian myself, I am pleased they are rebuilding it as the heart of Christchurch just doesn't look or feel right without one. 

There are still a couple of original high risers that survived the earthquake but most are now new builds with height restrictions of 6 floors max which will keep a lovely feel in the city and allow you to see the alps and hills around different central locations.

Beautiful Avon River

Botanical Gardens

The Avon River was looking splendid as it meandered through the city, the Memorial Wall for all those who lost their lives in the quake is a lovely peaceful spot to sit and reflect alongside the river. And of course for those of you who know Christchurch, it's not far to walk around to the Botanical Gardens - splendid with all the Tulips out and the trees in fresh leaf. Christchurch has over 740 lovely parks and gardens, which the people can thank their forebears foresight.

From here we caught the tram back to our start point to pick up our car and head home. It had been a pleasant day and good to see Christchurch looking more positive than even 6 month ago when we were here last. So many good things planned here, hope we get to enjoy it all too.

That evening our Auckland friends Elaine and Mark's son & girlfriend arrived for a couple of nights on their way through as they spend two months travelling the South Island before heading overseas. Isabel is from Holland and had spent the last 3 years in NZ as a Veterinary Nurse but hadn't spent much time in the South Island, so her and Scott (also a Vet Nurse) decided to have a couple of months doing some of the great walks and looking around this part of our beautiful country before returning to Holland in time for Christmas.

Murray & Bill just chilling

We thought it would also be great for Murray to have some of his massive fur balls removed - we didn't know Murray had such an aggressive nature when it comes to being brushed and I&S were not keen to take on the normally very placid Murray without the protective gear! 😉

It was lovely to have them stay, a bit like having our own kids drop in for a night. They borrowed our bikes one of the day's and we went on a vineyard tour with them another. Isabel hadn't visited a NZ winery while here, so that was on her list as she had heard how good our wines are. They very kindly asked us to join them, of course it didn't take much convincing. As it was Joan's last day with us too, we thought we would go for a picnic after (very Kiwi). 

First winery was Pegasus Bay Winery, the location of which Bill and I weren't aware, and what a beautiful location - a family owned vineyard  started  by the father just as he finished his training as a Doctor and thought the place was wonderful for healing people. But his wife turned him to the Wine side with a book as a Christmas gift and they haven't looked back. As I was the driver for the day, Bill was able to enjoy the tastings with I&S and we ended up with a bottle of wine each - one for lunch chilled already.

Pegasus Bay Winery -
Bill, Isabel & Scott sampling locally produced wines 

The beautiful grounds of Pegasus Bay Winery

Comparing notes at Waipara Hills Winery

Another lovely landscape through Waipara Hills Winery

The second and final one for our day out was Waipara Hills Winery, another beautifully laid out vineyard not far up the road. For those of you who remember The Mudhouse on the main road just after Amberley - this is now Waipara Hills. The wine steward was very knowledgeable about the different varieties of wines they grew there plus their other two regions - Central Otago and Marlborough. It was very interesting.

The day reminded Bill and I of a day we had out with Scott's parents when we were in our early 20's. Fun to do it again with the next generation.

After the vineyards we continued north and onto Gore Bay, where we had our picnic lunch. It was a sunny day but the wind was cool. Still, it's a pretty beautiful coastline and with the lush spring growth the countryside was gorgeous with it's rolling hills.

The next day Joan flew back to Nelson, and I&S moved on the following day to explore more of the South Island - and luckily for them the weather has been pretty good.

We've also had a chance to catch up with Marg & Don (ex Nelson nearly 20 years ago) and visit our local bar "Protocol" for some live music on a very pleasant afternoon. Also had a bike ride from their place in St Albans out to Ferrymead for lunch via some of the many cycleways Christchurch has created.

Don, Marg & Bill enjoying nibbles with the music

 While doing up a lot of the roadways after the earthquake, the City have been incorporating new cycleways which make you feel less vulnerable. Also along the Avon river heading out to Brighton through the Red Zone area where all the houses are now gone and the land all fenced off but

Brighton Pier under restoration

beautifully mowed while they are still deciding what to do with this land no longer suitable for building on. A recent article in the local paper said the land size was 3 times Hagley Park - so for those of you who know how big Hagley Park is - this is a vast area. Lots of good ideas have been coming out with more cycle ways, creations of lakes for water sports, lots of recreational ideas.

A little disorganised riding along the Avon

Hopefully Christchurch will get on and create something special here. 

Having time with M&D again, we have also caught up with two of their children - and partners plus M&D's first grandchild - Emerson (Kim & Andy's daughter). So it was nice to renew our contact with these children who are now adults and starting families of their own. A reminder how quickly life moves on.

After our blowout incident with two of our six tyres on our way to Christchurch, we decided to have the other four replaced as well. And who better than... Super Tyre (free advertising Dayne) - I worked for Super Tyre for two weeks when we first left Nelson 3 years ago. I thought I'd bake some muffins for the Guys for morning tea. So up a bit earlier to start and found I didn't have enough butter! Off I went for a 20min walk to the local Dairy for a packet of butter. I knew it would be expensive being a dairy and butter prices so high these days. But really!!! $7.50!! Ah well we were getting a good deal on the Tyres! So I returned with my expensive ingredient and got on with baking some chocolate muffins. Having access  to a microwave, I speed up the mixing by softening the butter first. While that was happening I mixed the egg into the yogurt. As I dropped the egg in, I saw a little piece of shell go in too. I HATE egg shell in any cooking! So I spent the next ten minutes trying to extract it with a sieve and finally found it. Continued mixing the muffins and got them into the oven.They turned out well. Once cool enough to travel, we were on our way. As we have had a bit of trouble with ants while we have been here, I decided to put some food in the microwave out of their reach just as we were going out the door. OMG! There was the bloody butter!! Ahhhh. Too late now and the muffins looked ok. So off we went and the Boys ate them all without anyone noticing a lack of butter. Probably wouldn't have been that great the next day. Those of you who know me well and my cooking - some things never change.

Bill looking sad in his PPE
(He's not even sure what that is!)

Thankfully H&R have been away while
 we have been staying in their home -
 Bill has taken over their bedroom a little!

Sign of the Takahe nicely restored after it's repairs

Besides our work, we have been able to get out for a few walks around the hills - Cashmere has plenty of beautiful old villas - many of them still having work done on them as repairs or the majority I would say are renovations. Christchurch is still a very busy place with ongoing builds and repairs. Overall the city has a good positive vibe about it.

But our time for this visit to Christchurch is almost at an end with the owners Helen & Ralph imminent return and us having made arrangements to meet up with Jenny & Murray in their new holiday home in Queenstown early November. Lets hope our next travels are less eventful on the road!

Nelson - Home once again - well for two weeks.

Walk up to the Lookout over Kaiteriteri

You can't stay away from home indefinitely and expect things to carry on as if you were still in residence doing all those chores that need to to be done.

The Blu Buz takes up a bit more room
as we came up the drive

So it came to pass that some maintenance was required at home.
With mum (Joan) in the co pilots seat and hopefully for the last time Sheryl driving the Suzuki on her own, we headed for Nelson. An uneventful trip in damp weather, camping the night outside Mums house in Richmond before moving into our little sleep out at 177. Our tenants were very

accommodating, welcoming us to stay and also letting us park our Buz in Big Yella's old park, which was a little daunting with Blu being 200mm wider and having not parked it in tight confines before! But snuggly it did fit.

Vicki & I
(not photo shopped)

The major maintenance job at the house that was required after 3 years away was the conservatory roof. It has seen 27 odd summers since it was built with Sheryl's dad Jack, giving me a hand to put the floor down whilst visiting, with the imminent birth of young Nick. And what a good thing both, (Nick & the conservatory) have been. Both good assets.

Conservatory roof needing a bit of TLC
A few hail stones & winters have taken their toll

Bill getting to the top of things!

   















Also on our agenda in Nelson was to get Joan up to speed with technology. With her old steam phone having run out of coal, us missing her texting and wishing to share the odd photo (in time), she was summarily frog marched to the phone shop and a smart phone bought.  With us being in town for the next fortnight and then her coming down to Christchurch with us as we engage in some work with our friends Helen &Ralph, it seemed opportune to get her trained up.

Nice new roof - need sunglasses in here now!

Nicki with Daisy & Lily at the local school
having fun after voting in NZ Elections.

With coming into Spring there was a bit of  gardening to get on top of, but not as bad as back in February. Young, able bodied, Johnny was able to help both Sheryl & I with the projects we wanted to achieve while here for the two weeks.
The buzz of social engagements was heard around the region, having a chance to catch up with Simon, Nicki, Lily and Daisy (not forgetting Rowdy) in Riwaka and check out the Brewery too of course.
Next night was in Tasman with Pippa, John and Annabell.


Then several nights out locally, including a 70th (good BBQ Bob) which was also a good chance to catch up with fellow Kayakers too. It was a busy two weeks, full of lovely meals and catch ups. Good friends make you feel like you haven't been away, it is like yesterday we last caught up. So we look forward to a lovely relaxed Christmas back here, with Shannon coming home to join us. There should be time to catch up with those we missed this time around, and hopefully with a hot summer, lots of swims at our beautiful beaches.

Drinks & nibbles at Kina
with Pippa & Annabell

John & Annabell with Pippa
(taking photo) having F&C's
in Queens Road Reserve

While back in Nelson we had a towing frame constructed for the Suzuki to allow us to tow it with the Bus so we can once again trip together. We came across a few motorhomes that were towing their vehicles and got some tips about towing frames and the Suzuki with it being one of the few 4WD automatics that can be towed with the 4 wheels running on the road. Now ready to head south.

BBB (Big Blu Buz) towing the Suzuki through
the Lewis Pass

And what an eventful trip we had. Leaving Nelson at 11.30, only two and a half hours behind schedule, we made good time travelling to Springs Junction with the car towing nicely, stopping for lunch and catching up with Paul & Robyn for a cuppa tea. They were heading home to Nelson after the weekend in Christchurch.
Onwards once again. It was plain sailing for a while, then it was  Sheryl's turn to drive! Well! Mmmmmmmm. She was only driving for 5 minutes and outside the Hurunui pub we had a blow out! BANG! We don't carry a spare. So it was a road side assist call out through our Insurance company and a tyre man made his way to us an hour later, just on dusk. With the Pub being closed at least we had a large car park to park up in off the main highway. He was pretty efficient changing the tyre for a smart new one.

Poor Blu B - the first tyre to be changed!

He then looked over the others and said take it easy as the other inside tyre looked suspect, recommending we change that too. And as luck would have it, within 20 kms it too went (Bill driving this time!) Thankfully the company had one other tyre in stock.
So by 10.30pm we rolled into Christchurch to our new residence for the next month and poured a wine as we were shattered from all the excitement!

Waitarere and Wellington

John & Sarah with Bill probably talking about his big fish he caught up North!
Just warming up with the brazier before Shannon & AC arrived.

After our Hobbiton adventure we continued south, where the weather reminded us we aren't quite ready for summer with a dumping of snow throughout the country, plus still plenty of rain. Waiouru was a sheltered parking spot behind the Museum, where they have an area for Motorhomes. Quite a good stop over point when travelling down the country, there were 3 Motorhomes parked up that night.

Our first evening on Waitarere Beach

We also parked over here as we had decided to visit the museum in the morning. It would be about 20 years ago since we had last visited with the kids on one of our Christmas trips to Auckland.  The building is currently being renovated, but visitors were still welcome. We spent the next three hours seeing and reading about past (the majority being WW1 & WW2) and current wars. Very sobering and depressing to think we have created more efficient killing machines, but not prevented wars continuing in the world.

Collecting firewood on Waitarere Beach for the brazier.
Kapati Island in the distance

Parked up outside J&S's Batch

One of the little jobs! Repairing disintegrating ranchsliders
and rotting timber frames

From Waiouru, we continued to our destination for the next two weeks - Waitarere Beach, just south of Foxton. Still struggling with our Window's operating system on our Laptop  using our cellular Internet service, I am using the Wifi offered around the country at the library's. It's been good to see so many library's have been renovated or new buildings to house the Information Centres and Library's in smaller centres.  I called into Bulls and used their library which currently is in a quaint small wooden building near the center of town. I thought it had a lovely feel about it which would be encouraging for children to come in and use the services & books on offer. But I found out from the very friendly Librarian that children of the area hardly use it these days due to issues like school bus routes ( being a largely rural area), after school sports and the majority having access to the Internet at home, these children aren't getting books out of the library like they used to. But Bulls is currently upgrading the Information Center to bring in the Library too, so hopefully it will encourage young readers once again.
Waitarere Beach was our base for the next two weeks where Bill was to restore a couple of ranchsliders back to their former glory ( flat wheels and corroded aluminium frames, rotting wooden framing etc) while checking out the local area and being closer to Wellington, catching up with Shannon & AC.
The batch belongs to friends John & Sarah, who live in Wellington but love coming out to their retreat at the beach. It's amazing how much warmer and how different the weather is here on the Kapati Coast compared to Wellington City. And only being an hour & half away, easy to do on a Friday after work.

AJ, Lucille, Alejandra, Savannah & Great Aunt S
in the adventure park in the forest.

Apart from the work for Bill, we did enjoy our time here. Lovely having the time to catch up with J&S again, and nephew AJ with his 3 young girls who came from Paraparaumu to Waitarere for the afternoon to enjoy an adventure in the Forest at the end of the beach that had a wonderful challenging obstacle course for children of all ages so for a 7, 5 and 2 year old there was plenty to play on.

Shannon walking across the wire bridge

AC and Shannon walking along the Paekakariki Escarpment
walkway above Highway 1

We also caught up with Shannon and AC all three weekends, which was lovely having time with our eldest and her partner. Bill did the Paekakariki Escarpment walk with them the first weekend. Having no head for heights, I chose to pick them up at the end of the 10km track that travels above Highway 1 with spectacular views out over the coast but quite steep terrain. When I saw the photos of their walk afterwards, I had made the right decision. Bill enjoyed the challenge.

Our second weekend, we went into Wellington and stayed over at their new home, on Evans Bay Parade. Being only 10 years old, it is a lovely modern apartment with views out over Evans Bay and across to the airport. There wasn't many projects requiring Bill's skills, but one or two minor issues he was able to help with.

Looking over Shannon & AC's Apartment block
 (can't quite see theirs around to the left)
from above the Patent Slipway out into Evans Bay

Joan in another world

We moved into Wellington for our last weekend before crossing back over to the South Island, staying at the Marina just down from S&A's place (a 15 min walk). Bill's mum Joan had flown over for the weekend to stay with S&A.
Unfortunately the weather wasn't that great to get out about, but we had some very vigorous windy walks along the waterfront. Very refreshing! We also had time to experience one of AC's gadgets - his virtual helmet. What an experience! Not sure if the person wearing the helmet had more fun or the rest of us watching the one in the helmet. With the 3D effects, you feel you are really in the scene you are watching. Joan was very entertaining as she flew over Paris and nearly hit the Eiffel Tower. Her reaction and choice of words were  priceless. Have video proof!
Now off to Nelson for two weeks for some maintenance on our own home and some gardening. .

Bill helping Sarah build her Scarecrow

Annie was excited collecting the
 firewood too