Tag Archives: Christchurch

56. Christchurch – Sydney – Singapore

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Flying
Saturday, March 30: Sunny

Was up at 7:30 for a shower, a shave, some breakfast, and then the rest of the packing. Suitcase was too heavy with the laptop in it, so decided that the laptop could be carried in the rucksack. Had everything together just after 10:00 and bid farewell to Graham and Joe.

Filled the tank for the last time down the road and then made my way to Wendekreisen for the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s decommissioning. Had the printed out receipt for the shuttle from the last time with me this time and was able to have the $32 refunded to the credit card. Not much in the way of formalities and we were quickly at the airport – so early that Qantas was not yet open. Didn’t have to wait long, however, and soon had my suitcase on its way. Continue reading →

55. Christchurch – New Brighton

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Graham’s
Friday, March 29: Sunny & warm the whole day, a few clouds in the evening
Old beach, new pier, New Brighton.

Old beach, new pier, New Brighton.

The processing of the sunset series was finished this morning, so the pictures were clipped and reduced in size and rendered into a shortish film that was produced with Windows Movie Maker. This took a little getting used to, but in the course of the morning the film took shape. Graham had left rather early this morning, and Joe left for a climbing trip later in the morning. Continue reading →

54. Christchurch

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Graham’s
Thursday, March 28: Sunny for most of the day, clouding over in the evening

Not a day for very much. Graham was not a morning person (he spends most of the night on the net and the phone with the UK where he is an inheritance sleuth – real, and not Nigerian) & Joe had already left for work (as an intern in a hospital in town) when I got up, but I got the tip that breakfast was self-service and that there was toast in the freezer and helped myself to some coffee and two slices of wholemeal with vegemite. Continue reading →

53. Akaroa – Tourist Drive – Little Akaroa – Christchurch

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Graham S., Main South Rd, Riccarton, via airbnb
Wednesday, March 27: Cloudy at first, with fog in the hills, clearing during the afternoon

Not much left for breakfast this morning, so zipped across to the 4square and cornered a lukewarm egg & bacon pie to eat with the fruit juice and the coffee (pie could at least be subject to the microwave). Guy at the backpackers suggested taking the high road to Little River, which I did, as I had quite a bit of time on my hands. Continue reading →

19. Christchurch – Waiau

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Waiau Motor Camp, Highfield St., double bunk room with linen and towel for $28
Thursday, February 21: Cloudy, but very warm

I was up at 7:30, and the American family that I had been told about (Zac, Mahabissa with two little girls and a baby boy of 10 weeks) were in various stages of getting up, but Matt had apparently worked until 5:00 in the morning and didn’t appear for some time.

I made avail of some muesli, the very little milk that was left, made some coffee and had some toast with vegemite and engaged Zac in conversation. There was not too much to get ready this morning, but Matt had wanted to give me some tips for which he had set a time of 9:00. Eventually he appeared and without so much as having breakfast proceeded to tell me some stuff about the tracks at the top end, some place in Punakaiki and a couple of tips for Queenstown/Wanaka. Let’s see. Continue reading →

18. Invercargill – Christchurch

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Matt’s
Wednesday, February 20: A little cloud, with the sun shining through & reasonably warm
Backside of the bottom in the deep south...

Backside of the bottom in the deep south…

Up at 7:30 for breakfast with Tina & Courtney – muesli, toast (with vegemite) & coffee. Then Tina was off to work and I set about the task of packing all the heavy stuff into the case and some overnight stuff into the rucksack. Worked OK and was able to close the case by just after 9:00, so I could have slept in. Continue reading →

7. Christchurch – Invercargill

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Tina & Tony M, Gladstone Tce, Invercargill, via airbnb
Saturday, February 9: Christchurch: A little chilly, fog, drizzle
Dunedin and Invercargill: Sunny and warm
Outside the Railway Station, Dunedin

Outside the Railway Station, Dunedin

Up at 6:00 to throw everything into the suitcase; Matt was up at half past and after loading L. still asleep into the children’s seat, we were off just after 7:00. I left the fire cans at Matt’s, who thinks he might improve on them by the next visit.

Fog was rolling into Hagley Park, and as there was not much traffic, everything was eerily quiet. We were in good time despite one false turn, and I had to wait around a bit before the bus decided to turn up. Continue reading →

6. Auckland – Christchurch

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Matt T., Manning Place, Christchurch, via airbnb
Friday, February 8: Auckland: Warm and fairly sunny
Christchurch: Pretty much the same, a bit cooler

I was up as the first one this morning and got through the bathroom before everyone else. While the others were having breakfast, I finished my packing, and when I saw I. coming down I went up and took my leave of Chinara, who was very much hugs this morning.

Then it was time for my breakfast, washing up and doing the final checks. Took a couple of photographs from the deck and one of the house but noticed that I had packed the wrong camera into the rucksack. Anyhow, soon after that I was on my way to the bus stop which I reached in very good time for the first bus that I had envisaged. Continue reading →

Ticketing 2

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Hen’s teeth. Screenshot from Jan 17, showing three (!) free places on the Milford. Ready, set, go!

Hen’s teeth. Screenshot from Jan 17, showing three (!) free places on the Milford. Ready, set, go!

Well, it turned out opodo had its disadvantages after all. As I suspected, there was no Rail&Fly for the return leg; half an hour of telephone queue was necessary to order one, with a special “late fee” added. All in all, R&F might have advantages for the traveller and the environment, but in practice it sucks massively, and a discounted train ticket for the journey to Frankfurt and an ordinary ticket for the return are not much more expensive. As some research on opodo’s booking system shows, R&F can be automatically booked for a “simple” return flight, but as soon as there is a leg outside Germany (as in a Y-flight), R&F is no longer available for subsequent legs, even if they do end here. Hey, no worries, the internet was only invented yesterday, right? Continue reading →

Kiwi II, 2009

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Weka dietary education: Milford Track

The second journey in the late summer of 2009 started with my arrival in Auckland on Sunday, February 1. After picking up a small camper, a Toyota Lucinda, which was named “Juicy Lucy”, I visited my school friend Tom and his family, then it was by way of Kawhia to New Plymouth where I made my first attempt at climbing Egmont. A couple of nights at the old motorcamp in Stratford to discover the Forgotten World and make a second – still unsuccessful – attempt at Egmont from the south and then on to Wanganui and Waikanae to visit Don and Sally Matheson who were giving me their holiday house for a couple of days in March. Continue reading →