By the numbers
5.37kms
7,788 steps
1 bus
1 mountain
I woke early so that I could get something to eat and a
coffee before I caught the bus that would take me over a fair chunk of the
South Island. I tried to be quiet as I could for being in a room with three
others and sharing the one loo. I left without a fuss and found I was still too
early for the office to be open, bt I knew the convenience store had coffee and
coffee they had. I wandered to the bus stop, although I ended up taking a
detour once I arrived as I wanted pictures from the lake of the sunrise hitting
the mountains. I wandered back to find a Great sights tour had arrived, but it wasn’t
mine as it was for the Milford Sound another great place. My bus soon arrived
and I was able to check in and get my ticket for lunch. I was happy as I could
now eat and soon found they could drop me off at where I was staying, which was
way better than the bus station. The Japanese people behind me in line were
getting pushy to be honest and the interpreter told them to calm down. They
were trying to push me while the interpreter was looking after me.
The bus went through Queenstown picking other people up on
the way and then we headed to Frankton and towards Mount Cook. I was looking
around for somewhere to charge my phone as i had thought there was one near me,
but I could not see one. I shrugged and hoped my phone would not die until I arrived
in Christchurch. On the way we stopped at the Kawarau Suspension Bridge where
you could either walk to Queenstown or bungy jump off the bridge. No way was I
going to and it was closed for the morning as we were too early. The local gold
mining was discussed along with the hydro dams that produced the electricity.
Cromwell was on our way through and we stopped at a fruit shop for a loo break
and I found a nice apple that was a snack and a big bottle of water as all I
had was a coffee. On the way we had seen the frost fans that apparently helped
the frost to stay off the grapes. The next break we had was at Omarama known
for its Merino sheep and this was where I nearly missed the bus. I thought I
had 5 mins left, but that was not the case and was lucky I jumped on when I did
as it had started, although there was a guy when I first hopped off who asked
if I had a spare $10 and I responded with No. I spent that on magnets. The town
that had once gotten my interest was Twizel and I soon found it wasn’t even
really a town. Blink and you miss it as it was built for the hydro scheme and
now a ski resort town
There was a dam on the way to Mount Cook that was a man made
lake called Pukaki and we stopped at a lookout by the name of Peters lookout.
It was here I found the USB charger and was around four hours after leaving
Queenstown. Luckily I had my charger on me as it was needed. I had been down to
60% as i was taking pics and using the WiFI on the bus. We soon headed into Mount
Cook Village and i realised there was not much here either. The area had been a
tourist area since the 1880s, although a tough area to get to like around 3
days if you were lucky by horse and then came cars and the road, but the
government ran The Hermitage hotel, which was extended by other owners. Sir Ed
Hillary was a frequent visitor to the area and the hotel, where he has a
monument and a museum to him. I ended up with my buffet lunch, which I had 3
serves, although not fussed on venison snags. We had around an hour and half to
kill here and I couldn’t really go far, although it was interesting to see the
DOCS office for some history to the area. I don’t know if I want to stay in a summer
to do some of the walks. Some people stayed, while others went back on another
bus to Queenstown, but we kept the same driver.
Once we left and kept going through various districts like
Timaru, we were looking for the Church of the Good Shepherd, which is a popular
picture place in Lake Tekapo. You couldn’t take pictures of the inside, but it
had a huge glass window that looked out on the lake. We only had a 10 min stop
here before we headed back on the road to Christchurch. It was reasonable that
we couldn’t stay long as we had to be back in Christchurch by 8pm. We had
dropped people off here. We made out way to Geraldine an Irish town full of
retired farmers where they have a big jersey on the wall in the info centre. I
decided since it was late that I would have my dinner then and not hunt
something down in the city after I stopped. It was interesting watching the
countryside change as we headed into Salmon towns and grazing grounds like
Ashburton. It was a nice ride around the outskirts of Christchurch and then I
was at the front door to the hostel. I was impressed by the driver and I had to
look for my bag. The driver had to get it from the other side.
Once I had checked into the hostel in Christchurch, I wanted
to take a walk to the Cathedral before dark. I found the whole area was no
longer the Red Zone from last time as I could walk around the buildings and New
Regent Street had opened, which is an art deco type street full of boutique
alcohol places and foodie places. The cathedral you could walk all the way up
to, but there was still plenty of fencing around blocking the streets like last
time I was there and buildings that still had supports. I could walk right into
Cathedral Square though, but the tram still couldn’t get that far. It was sad
looking at the new library being built, which was where I had originally stayed
and had collapsed during the big quake. By this time I decided it was getting
dark and I should head back as I needed to sort out a shower and look around
the hostel.
No comments:
Post a Comment