Boardwalk and Wineries in Picton

Our next stop in South Island, New Zealand, was in Picton.  We had time to actually take in the small port town of Picton, before heading out on our excursion of wine tasting!

The boardwalk in Picton was just a very short (5 minute) shuttle ride away.  Yes, we could have walked it, but the dock where our ship was at is a working dock and full of logs waiting to be shipped out.  The authorities felt it wasn’t safe for us to walk thru it, so it was a mandatory shuttle.  Still, worth the short ride for this very picturesque boardwalk.  A lovely park and bay full of sailboats (and other boats!).

The downtown area was also cool, with a number of different shops and eateries – we got a chuckle from the fact that this one pub had “drinking consultants” there to help out with beverage choices!  The white structure at the head of the stairs is actually an arch that is the entrance to the boardwalk from the business section of Picton.

But, on to the wineries.  New Zealand, especially the South Island, mainly produces white wines.  Jeff and I aren’t really white wine drinkers, and typically, I’m not a Pinot Noir fan, fun the pinots here were pretty tasty.

The next winery was Forrest Winery, which has a clever label on some of their wines.  The owners are both doctors – one a medical doctor and the other holds a PhD.  Therefore, the label for some of their wines has an old fashioned doctor on his bike making the rounds, as its logo!  I couldn’t resist – I actually got a t-shirt with this logo on it!

Our third, and last, winery of the day, was one called Spy Valley.  It’s a playful reference to the military satellite downlink station located near the vineyard and winery.  It was just a bit chilly to sit out and enjoy the wines at the picnic table, but I’ll bet during the summer months, this is a great way to spend an afternoon!

Enjoy!

Christchurch Botanic Gardens and Return to Akaroa

We did have just enough time after seeing the city sights of Christchurch and having a nice lunch, to see the beautiful Christchurch Botanic Gardens, before heading back to Akaroa.

After the sadness of so much remaining damage from the earthquakes, it was so nice to take a stroll and see some lovely blooms like these trumpet shaped flowers growing in a bunch on a large tree shrub.

This was a really different flowering bush.  The blooms are actually sitting on top of the leafy branch!  Jeff and I had never seen something like this before.

What a lovely peaceful scene this was.  I love the reflection in the water of the Avon River, which flows thru the Botanic Gardens.  They had several benches set up along the river, so people could just sit and enjoy the beauty and perhaps even get in a bit of meditation.  Altho right in the city, many parts of this garden had very little, if any, city sounds to disrupt the peace.

We also saw the same variety of blooms as the first image I showed you in different colors.  Here was a deep, rich red version of the same lovely trumpet shaped blooms.  I think it’s kind of a luscious color.

While we sat at one of the benches along the river, these 2 ducks were very happy to provide entertainment by bobbing for some food to munch on.  I was lucky enough to capture one right side up while the other is upside down!

As we started to make our way out of the garden, we strolled thru the rock garden there.  I love the contrast between the hard rock surface and the soft pink petals of the ground flowers growing there.

The Botanic Gardens dissect Hagley Park.  We exited the Botanic Garden and walked thru a bit of North Hagley Park on the way back to the shuttle to take us back to our ship.  I really love the remote feel and ultimate peace of this image, with the tree hanging over and reflecting on the Avon River.  What a lovely respite!

When we got back to Akaroa and were taking the tender boat from the dock to our ship, we passed this adorable little lighthouse in Akaroa Harbor.  For whatever reason, the sailboats weren’t out on this day.  Maybe too windy?

As we got close to the ship, I saw this great landscape that I have found is just iconic New Zealand.  The rolling hills within larger hills – it makes me feel so small and insignificant.

And, finally, farewell to Akaroa!!  Great sea, sky and bluffs!

Enjoy!

Akaroa and Christchurch City Sights

Our next stop in New Zealand was the port of Akaroa.  We were only about an hour or so from Christchurch, so we decided to take a shuttle bus to Christchurch to see those sights as well!

As we took off for Christchurch, the route provided a lovely view of the port of Akaroa.  The town of Akaroa is a small town on the Banks Peninsula of the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand.  FYI – New Zealand is made up of 2 large islands – North and South Islands and several smaller islands.

On the way to Christchurch, we drove by the Southern Alps of New Zealand.  Beautiful, aren’t they?  It’s earlier in the spring down in New Zealand (Southern Hemisphere), altho these mountains are so high, I’m not certain if the snow completely melts on the top.

Along the way, we also saw some beautiful New Zealand landscapes.  There is an old saying about New Zealand – the sheep outnumber the people who live there.  While the number of sheep are declining, due to cattle and horses being raised on the islands, there are still 5 sheep for every person there!

When we got to Christchurch, the first thing we decided to do was to ride the hop-on, hop-off trolley there to get an idea of what the sights were and then decide which to check out in greater detail.  One of the sights from the trolley was this tribute to New Zealand’s fallen soldiers.  New Zealand sent troops in all the major wars – WWI, WWII, Korean War and the Vietnam War, in addition to their own internal wars.

One of the lovely pieces of architecture in Christchurch is the current Central Art Gallery.  This building originally housed Canterbury University, originally called Canterbury College, founded in 1873.  In 1961, it became an independent university and moved out of these neo-gothic structures.  

Part of this building was damaged in the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes.  Most of the building is able to still be used, but there are some remaining signs of the earthquake damage.  New Zealand is within what is called the Ring of Fire, a ring of very active earthquakes.  Alaska and California are also part of this Ring of Fire.

This damaged clock tower is another reminder of the damage of those earthquakes.  The 2010 earthquake was a 7.1 earthquake, but happened during the middle of the night, and was a lateral earthquake.  The earth shifted from side to side, but there wasn’t much visible damage and no deaths. This earthquake and its aftershocks did weaken the buildings in Christchurch and made the second earthquake much more damaging.  

The second earthquake hit on February 22, 2011, just before 1pm.   It was centered just over a mile away from the port town of Lyttleton and about 6 miles southeast of the center of Christchurch.  There was significant damage as was particularly evident at Christ Church Cathedral.  It was New Zealand’s fifth-deadliest disaster, killing 185 people.  The port town of Lyttleton used to be the port where the cruise ships docked, and our bus guide told us of the shuttle he was bringing back to the ship when the quake hit.  He could not pull onto the formal dock, because it had cracked enough from the quake to make it unstable for vehicles.  He had to let off the sightseers on the far end of the dock, and they literally ran to the safety of the ship.  They have been working to restore the port at Lyttleton, but as of the time of our cruise, it still could not accept the cruise ships.  They are hoping that within the next year or so, cruise ships will again begin to use that port.

This scene was especially saddening to me.  It’s of one of the entrances to the Christ Church Cathedral.  In our travels, most of the churches we came across were open to the public throughout the day.  The bar across the entrance of this cathedral just seems to be the antithesis of what the churches and cathedrals in New Zealand stand for.  The plan for this cathedral is to be rebuilt to look as much like the original as possible.  They hope to retain and reuse as many of the original materials as they can and recreate much of the same design on both the interior and exterior.  Unfortunately, more than 7 ½ years after the second earthquake, significant work has yet to begin.  All of the scaffolding, etc. that is there is trying to keep the building standing.  Why the delay?  The trolley guides could only offer one reason – financing.  But, all of Christchurch is not this depressing.  In my next post, you’ll see some of the beauty of a special place in Christchurch.

Enjoy!

Uphill Dunedin

You know what they say – what goes down must come back up (or something like that!)!  The going uphill part of our exploration wasn’t too bad, tho, as we did a sort of switchback type of walk, switching blocks of uphill with those going lateral!

The First Presbyterian Church of Otago was our first stop heading back uphill.  It was built on a site selected in 1848 by Capt. William Cargill and Rev. Thomas Burns.  It was the center of life in the community at that time.

The inside of this church was quite beautiful.  The organ must sound absolutely magnificent – look at all the pipes!!  It also has those great ceilings that we sort of came to expect in this area of the world!

And, as is the case with these churches, the stained glass windows are really something to behold!  I really love the bright colors.

After we left the First Presbyterian Church, I noticed this very cool sign in the window of, apparently, a tattoo art gallery.  I actually didn’t really read the sign when I got this image – I was really just reacting to the design.  If I had realized what we were passing, I probably would have dragged Jeff inside to take a look!

I’m not certain what type of church this used to be, but it’s now just a neat looking office building!  It wasn’t open to the public – talk about a great office window for the president of whatever company is in here!!

As we completed the circle (or octagon) of Dunedin, the last great piece of architecture was St. Paul’s Cathedral.  It seemed to be on just about the highest point, for the main part of town.  Thank goodness, we climbed up the side steps to enter the cathedral, and due to the hill upon which the church sits, there were far fewer steps!!

The cathedral was dedicated in 1915, and has the prerequisite stained glass windows, and those lovely arches inside that I really love.  I think it’s great that the churches all seem to be left open to the public in the towns we visited.  

After our walk down, up and around, we stopped at an Irish pub for a bite to eat.  The outside of the pub wasn’t really anything to look at, but I thought this fireplace was really charming!  And, then, back to the ship for our next port of call!

Enjoy!!

Downhill Dunedin

Instead of doing a formal excursion, we decided to explore on our own at the Port Chalmers/Dunedin port of call.  We took a shuttle bus over to Dunedin from Port Chalmers – about a 20 minute ride.  Oh, and in case you’re wondering, a resident helped us pronounce Dunedin – it’s pronounced “doo-NA-din”.   And, altho we ended up walking the town in a sort of octagon pattern (the “downtown” area is actually called The Octagon”), it was most definitely downhill, and a fairly steep one to begin with!!

When we got off the shuttle, the first thing we saw was the town hall.  Quite an impressive building for what is really a nice sized town, not a city – population was just under 120,000 in 2016.

I loved this water fountain and the seagulls enjoying it.  I think of it as an infinity pool for them!!  Just a touch of whimsy in what promised to be a very cool town!

Altho this building is called the Otago Daily Times building, the emblem actually reads, “The Star – 150 years”.  I guess the newspaper is or was called The Star.  Many things in town had a reference to Otago.  I wondered what that was, and it turns out it’s the region of southeast New Zealand in which Dunedin is located, on the South Island.  There are two main islands of New Zealand – just fyi.  

Just down the hill is the Law Courts building.  It’s a really impressive building, and one of the things we noticed within a block of the Law Courts were a hotel, the Law Courts hotel (which had a great sign) and two pub/taverns, called The Jury Room and Whig’s Pub!  

The Law Courts building was completed in 1902, on the site of the first gaol, where the jail originally was.  Also, when this building was first opened, the harbor came up to the base of this building! 

This building, to the side of the Law Courts building, was the original prison.  It’s now closed as a prison, but I noticed a sign next to this building – it’s apparently used for social occasions!!  Kind of quirky!

We were excited about the possibility of a tour of a Cadbury Candy factory!  However, this company has left this site and the building is closed.  A new owner is planning to recreate the factory and offer tours within the next few years.  Any samples??  That is still to be determined!!

At the bottom of the hill, sitting on reclaimed land, land that was once water in the harbor, sits the Dunedin Railway Station!  This is where the train that passes thru Port Chalmers originates and it’s still operational!  They offer a variety of train rides, too.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to take one on our day trip here.

This station was completed in 1906 and was the largest railway station in New Zealand.  I really liked the emblem of the station that is etched into the glass windows of the station.  I also love the look of the inside of this train station.  Altho there are benches there now, the windows behind them were once the ticket windows.

After walking thru the station from the front to the back, we came to the train platform.  Again, I was struck by the historic charm of this station.  I was pretty lucky, too – I managed to get this shot when people weren’t out here wandering around!

Just outside the historic railway station, I noticed this piece of whimsy of a modern design.  It’s a bicycle rack!  Can you see how the stand spells out the word “cycle”?

Also outside the formal railway station, and in a museum next door, was this very interesting train engine.  It is named Josephine, and was built in 1872.  I think of this engine as a sort of railroad tug.  I call it that because it has an engine on both sides – the mechanics of the car sits in the middle, so either side of it can be the “front”!  It reminds me of the tug boats that we saw in the harbors - many of them have 2 fronts to the boats!  And, since we’re at the bottom of the hill, that means it’s all uphill for the next blog post!

Enjoy!

Arriving in Port Chalmers

We arrived in the early morning in Port Chalmers, New Zealand.  It would be the first time we actually set foot on New Zealand.  It promised to be a busy day of exploring on our own!

As the sun rose, we passed the lighthouse at the entrance to the bay.  I found it to be an incredibly picturesque – it reminded me of the lighthouses we saw in the northeast, in Maine and Nova Scotia.

The church in town, Iona Church, was very charming, especially in the view from our balcony!  One of the things that I found interesting is that this church’s tower was also a clock tower!

I love the hotels alongside the tunnel that the train comes thru.  They look rather old, but charming in their own way!  And, from where does the train originate?  Tune into my next blog post to find out!

Enjoy!

Breaksea Sound, Acheron Passage and Dusky Sound in Fiordland

We sailed on to the last part of Fiordland National Park that we were to see today.  We have now sailed into mostly cloudy and overcast skies, which lent an otherworldly feel to the watery landscape.

As we entered Breaksea Sound, we passed by these craggy rocks that seem to have fallen from the fiord.  Given the grey day we had right now, it really made me feel like our entry here was not welcome.

But, again, we came to yet another waterfall, and the colors here lightened the day for a brief time.  I refer to each of these as “a” waterfall, but you can see there are really many smaller falls that makes up this waterfall.  And, this waterfall only seems to start at about 2/3 of the way down the side of the fiord.  We think the flow thru the upper part of the fiord is underground, and the waterfalls just seem to spout out from somewhere lower down.

When we were cruising thru the Acheron Passage, we passed this sound called Wet Jacket Arm.  I admit, it did seem like sailing down the arm would result in wet jackets, but I’m not certain that’s where its name comes from!  I love the way the mist is rolling down the slopes of the fiord, don’t you?

We actually saw some flowers in this part of the fiords, growing very low on the slope, close to the water.  There were some growing close to another beautiful waterfall.  Can you see the little white flowers in the lower right of the image? They are at the level of where the waterfall meets the sea.

Sometimes, these other arms or sounds just seem to beckon us to enter.  I have no idea how far down some of these go, and if they connect to something that would lead us out again to the sea.  This is an incredible place, and totally unable to be accessed by land – you must be in a boat or ship.

And, so we come to the end of our travels thru this magnificent place.  As we sailed up and down these arms, sounds and the shoreline of the national park, I found myself at times feeling sorry for those who are atheists.  I’m not an overly religious person, but I just felt God’s creativity at work here, felt the magic of belief in what He has done here.  And, I wonder if atheists can feel it to the same degree, since they don’t have the magic of belief. 

Enjoy!