The Inland Kaikoura route to Christchurch was a winding hilly drive, studded with snow capped mountains towering above verdant rolling hills dotted with sheep. Very few cars or towns made the ride especially relaxing.
When Hwy 7 met up again with Hwy 1 the intensity of the drive picked up and Christchurch was the most traffic we've experienced in New Zealand so far. Arriving just before rush hour, our GPS took us to our Merivale accommodation in what seemed to be a circuitous manner through narrow residential side streets, but in retrospect the route was reasonable. The friendly woman at reception advised us that walking into the city center would not be arduous. Tickled with her word choice, off we went.
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As newcomers to the city, it was a bit of a problem to find sidewalks that weren’t cordoned off because of earthquake damage. Bricks and toppled bits of buildings were notable, but hardly ubiquitous. We made our way to the iconic Cathedral Square and strolled around taking pictures and watching people play chess with the oversized pieces. The Cathedral itself was not open as a precautionary measure. Our dinner was a happy hour pizza special at Elements, a little restaurant with a view of the Cathedral, where we enjoyed our meal while watching the sun set in the Square. We had a nice walk back to our room and called it a day. During the night there were aftershocks, but even though we slept restlessly, we were not awakened.
Wednesday brought a brisk but sunny morning for our walk to the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. Daffodils were blooming along Beasley Boulevard and North Hagley Park, but they were said to be even better along Riccarton Avenue. We stumbled upon the Christchurch Model Yacht Club maneuvering their little sailboats around Lake Victoria before crossing a footbridge bridge over the River Avon into the gardens. Just inside, a pond had common waterfowl and ducklings, and nesting overhead in a tall tree was a colony of Pied Shags. We grabbed lunch at the Botanic Gardens Cafe, then strolled around the rest of the gardens, ending with the Daffodil Woodlands along Riccarton Avenue. The area was so pleasing, we lingered most of the day.
At around 3PM we remembered we wanted to take a drive out to the Banks Peninsula so we walked back to our accommodation and hopped in the car. We had a little trouble getting out of town in rush hour traffic, but once we were out of the city, the drive was great. The sun set along the way and we hit the French-influenced town of Akaroa at dusk. We agreed this spot would be worth another visit.
Mike and I were aware of only one of the several aftershocks in the night. At 10:41pm he heard a low rumbling and rattling but I only noticed the bed rocking, like being in a slow moving roller coaster car. Weird! Maybe weirder that I was not scared.
Thursday morning we took the gondola ride at Port Hills and although this tourist attraction is set up to handle large numbers, only handful of other visitors were there on this cloudy morning. On the way up, it occurred to me that this was not the ideal place to be should a large earthquake happen. I guess this is our form of “extreme sport” in New Zealand! It was brisk and windy, but at the top we got surprisingly good views of the Southern Alps given how cloudy it was in town. We learned there are tracks along the hills up there and would like to go back to walk if we return to Christchurch.
It was past lunchtime when we headed out of town, so we stopped at a recommended place near Amberley called Brew Moon Brewery. We tried a sampler of all 4 of their brews and my favorite, not just because of the name, was the Dark Side of the Moon Stout. The ambience and food were great, too. I tried a cauliflower blue cheese soup and Mike had steak with gravy and mushrooms on top of fries with a salad, a meal that we find in some form or another on every menu we've seen. We visited with the owner, a friendly 40-something woman with waist length dreds.
On up the road we decided to take the scenic loop out to Gore Bay. We saw the mouth of the Hurunui River and Cathedral Cliffs overlook -- both gorgeous! We were among the first to travel past the big slip that closed Hwy 1 for several days, although only one lane was open so we had a short wait. Susan saw an orange warning sign with a seal on it near Ohau point, but we didn’t see any seals on the road. We continued our drive home along the coast at sunset with ocean to our right and snow capped peaks to our left.
A long but enjoyable day of driving, and it was good to be back “home.”
