Day 27, 28, 29 - Back in Wellington for the last lap

Sunday 1 May

I woke during the night with a sore throat, and by morning was not a happy child, although very grateful it had not descended on me earlier. I spent a very lazy day in bed, reading and sleeping, while Lloyd trotted around getting drinks and meals for me.

Monday 2 May

We had booked for the early-bird tour of the Gallipoli display at Te Papa before we left for the South Island, so were waiting in the foyer by 9.15.

 

What we got was a brief talk about the war and how we got involved with Gallipoli, then we were sent in to see the display ourselves. I possibly was affected by my cold, or weary from the whole trip, but did not think it was as good as the one at the Dominion War Museum. However it was worth seeing, and I was pleased I had done so. 

I was even more pleased to be back in our room afterwards, and gave up the idea of heading back to Archives for a final bit of research

I am glad I saw the exhibition. I found it to be informative, incredibly well laid out, the dioramas were excellent and were about 3 times life size and consequently very dramatic. 

Tuesday 3 May.

Feeling slightly better this morning, but Lloyd is now coming down with my cold, and we will both be pleased to get home.

Taxi arrived at the Hostel dead on time and it was a quick trip down to the Railway Station where we checked in and boarded our very comfortable home for the next 11 hours or so.

The train trip started in the rain – the first real rain we have seen since we left home. However it cleared to cloudy after the first hour or two, and Ruapehu stood out well.

The above was written while travelling and now I am giving a more relaxed version.

By the time we got to Palmy the rain had eased off and within the hour the weather was fine and we were able to enjoy the excellent scenery, especially the viaducts, and we could wonder at the incredible labour taken to build these things back in the day of no motors or mechanical tools.
All pick and shovel and hard, hard yacker

We reached Auckland about 7-00 pm. A shuttle took us to Britomart where we caught our local train to Panmure and trudged our way home.

We are both feeling sad, although it is so nice to come home, it has been a superb trip and we really did not want it to end.

We are now giving serious consideration to going back to the South Island in a couple of years. This time we would take the car and thus be able to spend more time in the many places which appealed to us plus be able to explore the ones we missed. Time will tell.

Day 26 - Picton to Wellington

Saturday 30 April

After breakfast back at the same restaurant, it was announced that the ferry from Wellington was running half an hour late, but we would still go to the terminal and spend the extra time there, as it was a more comfortable place to wait. We went for a walk and took a few pictures (as you do), then boarded the bus and had a quick five-minute drive to the harbour. As we pulled in I noticed that the Edwin Fox Ship Museum was right beside us – a place that I have long wanted to see. And here we are with an extra 30 minutes to spare. It must be meant!

As soon as I had confirmed the boarding time, and had my own ticket clutched in my hand, I headed off with fingers crossed. Fortunately it opened at 9 am, and was only ten past now, so I was able to have a good wander around the displays. The building itself is built of Oamaru Stone, and the internal columns are made of Australian Jarrah, taken from the old meatworks where the ship was used as a coal-store.

This ship is the only surviving Australian convict ship, as well as the only surviving Crimean War troop transport. She has also made about four trips to New Zealand with emigrants, before becoming a coal hulk, and then being left to rot. She really is a very important and historic ship, and what a story she could tell. Timbers at and above the tide-line have been partially or wholly eaten away, but those which remained submerged have survived very well.

Down inside the hull

Although the original plan for the Edwin Fox was to restore her (I have to say, it feels funny calling a ship with such a masculine name ‘her’!), the volunteers are now focused on preservation instead, and it  certainly feels far more authentic walking on her than on the Euterpe, which has been restored and touristified to the nth degree.

The step for the mainmast

It is possible to go down to the very bottom of the ship and walk around inside the hull, touching and stepping on the original wooden floor. I got to feel the timbers, touch the mainmast and the step it is set into, and smell the old odours the sailors and migrants must have smelt. It was an amazing experience, better than seeing the Euterpe, and even better than the Mary Rose, in that I could actually walk on board. 

Timbers above the waterline have been eroded away quite badly

Original copper sheathing on the outside of the hull

Back in time to board the Aratere with the others, we settled in a foursome with Martyn and Linda, so I could show her the basics of Legacy, my family history program. Afterwards we went for a walk, had a bit of lunch and chatted to some of our friends, before arriving in Wgtn just after 2 pm. We boarded the bus in the hold and drove off, then pulled up outside the departure lounge where we first met the tour. After a hurried farewell as eight of us left the bus for the last time, and hugs for Wayne & Ellen, we grabbed a taxi for the journey to the YHA and quietly collapsed in our room for a rest.

After a stroll along the waterfront, we picked up tea from New World, and had an early night.

An assortment of photos

Day 25 - Christchurch to Picton

Friday 29 Apr

It looked like a long day's drive on the map, but Ellen had planned lots of stops, and was confident that we would still be there about 4.30. I must say that our whole group are very good at being on the bus - or at least queuing to get on - by the designated times. I can recall only once that we had to wait for anyone. Lloyd timed us getting off the bus at a stop one day and it took six minutes. It is longer when we have shifted from one town to another, and there is more hand luggage being put on the racks or taken down. Probably my one gripe is that they will not use the back door, as there would be no-one to assist us to alight, which slows the whole process down dramatically.

Our first comfort stop was Amberley, only 45 minutes after we started. We pulled up outside a memorial to Charles Upham, the double VC winner, who grew up here.

The Amberley Library

Amberley Craft Market, held every Friday, with an excellent selection

Amberley Presbyterian Church, made from local river-stones

Morning tea at Cheviot, then up the Kaikoura coast. Several double tunnels, which we found interesting to go through. We are sitting in the second row back, behind Wayne for today's trip, so get great views of everything.

We stopped at the Avoca Peninsula, where there is a marine reserve, and saw one seal by a memorial. He kindly performed for us the whole time we were there.

Spot the seal (just left of the memorial)

Fyffe House at the same stop is a horrible pink which clashes terribly with the surrounding area, and evidently tells the story of the whaling carried on here, which neither of us was interested in seeing.

Lunch at Kaikoura, and then another photo stop at 1.30 at the fur seal colony on Ohau Point. Seals everywhere, sleeping, playing, diving, two males huffing at each other - we could have watched for an hour.

A quote from AA Milne springs to mind - "I saw little rabbits 'most everywhere"

Afternoon tea was at Blenheim, and Lloyd chose to stay on the bus, so I wandered one way down the main street and found an ice-cream, then directed several others to the same shop on my way back. I guess everyone had the same idea. 


As we stopped there for nearly an hour, I then trotted on past the bus, parked at the war memorial, and found the Anglican church. It appears to be a relatively recent rebuild, so I was not terribly interested until I came across two plaques to a previous minister by the name of Thomas Samuel Grace, whose story I had been listening to at Timaru.  His grandson David is on the tour with us!

 

Arriving at Picton we discovered the Beachcomber Hotel is like two sides of a U, and everyone had a balcony facing the harbour, so soon there were folk sitting out on their decks with drinks admiring the view. Although this hotel does have a restaurant, their prices are more than Unique want to pay, and they also only do a-la-carte, no buffets, so that makes it very slow for a large party. However the place we did eat was only a five minute walk away, and the older members were driven up in the bus by Wayne. 

 

Beachcomber Hotel Picton

Day 24 - Tranz-Alpine Train Journey

Thursday 28 Apr 

Our hotel kindly started breakfast at 6.30 for the 18 of us who had booked for this excursion. Two shuttles arrived at 7am to deliver us to the station, and the train left on time at 8.15.

The Canterbury Plains may look very flat, but we were told that in fact they climb from the beginning. Forty minutes into the trip we were 260m above sea-level.
We discovered that the Waimakariri River delivers three million tonnes of gravel to the sea each year, a truly astounding amount. Most of that must be erosion from the mountains. 

The red on the banks is a fungus

We stopped just before the Otira Tunnel and hooked three engines on to the back of the train, so that if anything happened, they would have the power to pull us back up. Very comforting. The tunnel is just over 8.5 km long, and at the time it was finished in 1923 was the longest in the British Empire.

We entered the tunnel at 11:05, and arrived safely at the end at 11:23. Then there was a short five minute stop at Arthur’s Pass to collect some passengers, before we travelled on to Greymouth. Superb scenery, but it felt a bit like the ‘same old same old’ since we have seen so many similar views in the last week or two. Fortunately most of the tour group have a great sense of humour, so there were lots of stories and laughs to enliven the journey.

Autumn colours

We had an hour to walk and have lunch, then returned to Christchurch, this time only hooking one extra engine on the back for the tunnel. Each way is roughly 4.5 hours, total journey 10 hours, so two weary little bears were pleased to get home. 

Braided river