The Trip That Keeps Growing: Blog 26 Hokitika to Christchurch 5 April 2019

This morning we headed out early (0830) for the return trip to Christchurch. Because the heavy rain of two weeks ago had washed out the bridge and road that we were supposed to have traveled on to get to the Fox Glacier and Queenstown, OAT changed out itinerary, bringing us back to Christchurch and then tomorrow down the center of the South Island to Queenstown. They have compensated each of us with a $150.00 credit for a future trip. Lindsay tried to make the return trip as interesting as possible with several planned stops and a picnic lunch. However, Mother Nature was not accommodating. It was raining slightly as we left Hokitika and it was cooler than it had been the day before.

As we headed toward Arthur’s Pass through the Southern Alps (the highest pass through these mountains), we noticed white on the peaks that had not been there the day before. Even Lindsay was surprised – the first snow of the season. We stopped for about 45 minutes in the town of Arthur’s Pass for a bathroom break, a coffee fill-up, and to see the beautiful waterfall behind the little chapel in the town. As we got off the bus, I heard some birds and Lindsay said they were Keas – the mountain parrots. So I went off to investigate and found 2 in a close by tree. When you see the bird sitting on the top of a tree, it just looks like a drab brown and green parrot. But when it spreads its wings in flight, you see the red on the underside of the wing. This was the one bird I wanted to see in New Zealand, so another item has been struck off my bucket list. I would love to see a Kiwi in its native state, but they are nocturnal and only found in a few locations. And you would have to go to one of those locations, spend the night, and go on a night game drive in the rare chance that you would see one. We will see them at a recovery center that takes in the eggs (so predators don’t eat them) and raises the chicks after they hatch until they are big enough to survive in the wild. Then they are released.

Arthur's Pass

Kea ready for flight

Kea

Kea in flight

First snow of the season

Waterfall behind small chapel

We were supposed to have our picnic at Castle Hill, an area where the hills are covered in large rocks. Scenes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy were shot there. However, it was raining so Lindsay had the bus driver drive to lake where he parked the bus and we had a “busnic.” Sonya, the owner of the Stopforth Motel where we had stayed in Hokitika, had made us bag lunches of egg salad (and their definition of salad is different from ours – they mean a garden salad with chopped eggs between 2 pieces of bread – lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper chutney), a juice box, apple, a pieces of her delicious apple cake, and 2 “Minties” (small pieces of mint taffy). The wrapper on the Minties says “It’s moments like these that you need Minties.” It was very good and we all stayed warm and dry.

Castle Hill

Arriving in Christchurch, our rooms were not yet ready for us, so Lindsay arranged an hour-long tram ride around the center of the city. As you may recall, Christchurch was devastated by the February 2011 earthquake. There are still many buildings that have not yet been repaired, included the large Cathedral that sits right next to our hotel. Our hotel, Distinction, received very little damage from the quake, but it has been completely renovated and is very nice. The majority of the buildings that were destroyed were either built of stone or brick. So the new buildings that are going up have to be re-enforced to withstand earthquakes and can be no more than 6 stories tall. And most have large glass windows – glass is easier to replace than a brick façade. And, of course, all around us are signs of the Mosque shooting several weeks ago. Although the city has been hit hard by tragedies over the past 8 years, they are very resilient, upbeat, and optimistic that the worst is behind them.