I flew on a Canadian DC-10 out of Vancouver to Honolulu. I had a window-seat looking out over the right-wing. I'd never flown at night before. The take-off was great - it was clear out and all the city lights were visible. It looked a bit like the old Microsoft Flight Simulator game (only better of course)!
The flight was 5.5 hours long; it went by very quickly actually. I was seated next to a young woman from Germany who had completed her teaching degree and had to wait until February 1994 before she could do her 'practicum'. She had just finished renting a car and driving around southern California, Nevada, and then up to British Columbia.
Landing in Honolulu was excellent - it looks better at night than Vancouver. Vancouver is very grid-like, where as Honolulu is very 'fluid' looking. The roads follow the shore-line; very pretty.
After an hour or so, we left for Auckland in a 767 (Air New Zealand). I was very lucky as the plane was only two-thirds full, so not only did I get a window seat, but lots of elbow room due to the empty seat beside me. I managed a few hours of sleep. The Air New Zealand service was very good.
When we got into Auckland (after nine hours) it was a very impressive sight: there was a huge wide volcano in the harbor called Rangitoto Island. After waiting two hours in the airport, I caught the connector flight to Christchurch.
My first impression was not so great. It was a flat city with no nearby hills. It reminded me a lot of Kelowna or Penticton: very flat with mountains on the horizon, and many older houses (mostly built in the 1950s).
I was very tired: I'd been up for 32 hours with only a few fitful hours of sleep on the long flight from Honolulu to Auckland.
It was only 2:00 PM (Saturday, Oct. 23) so I thought I'd go out for a while. Apparently the Cathedral square was only a few blocks away. I figured I'd go out walking for a few hours before hitting the sack.
I got back about 5:00 PM. I was a lot more impressed with Christchurch now. I'd wandered around through a huge (600 acres) park called Hagley Park. Lots of green cricket fields. There was a large botanical garden and several canals. I saw people paddling around in gondola-canoe boats called punts.
I then went downtown and saw something strange: on the shores of the Avon river, there were three flags: Canada's, Australia's and Hong Kong's. There was no explanatory plaque or anything - go figure!
I then stumbled into Victoria Square. It was the original 'Market Square' and underwent a major renovation in 1989. It is now a large courtyard with brick and stone bridges, fountains and duck ponds (a duck and six ducklings were nesting here). The river Avon runs through the square and an old railway bridge still goes over it, though the rest of the trolley track is gone.
I checked out the Christchurch Cathedral Square. The square itself is no big deal - a brick square where people hang out. The church is quite impressive. I paid two NZ dollars to climb up to the top, where the view was quite good.
I got some bad news: Labour Day was the Monday I was supposed to pick up the motorcycle. I had a note waiting for me at the motel, stating to pick up the motorcycle tomorrow (Sunday). This is a tad annoying because I wanted to go on a bus tour tomorrow.
Worse, I tried to call them at 4:30 PM and got no answer! What if I can't get a hold of them - then I have to stay an extra day in Christchurch.
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A long day! I woke up early, after going to bed at about 6:30 PM. I got up and walked through Hagley Park and its botanical gardens. The river has a lot of ducks and some geese. Even at 7:00 AM there were many people out walking around. I checked out the new trolley line that is being built in Christchurch. It is going to circle around downtown. It'll be finished in another year or so. It'll use trolley cars a la San Francisco.
I went into the Canterbury Museum. It's free (but they ask for a five dollar donation). It had several displays of moa hunters, Maori artifacts, and the history of the Canterbury settlers. There were displays of NZ birds, various paste models of famous gems, a giant rotating globe, and a large Polynesian lateen sail outrigger.
I then headed back to the motel. I stopped for breakfast at the 'Pancake Palace.' After waiting 25 minutes, I got my breakfast of eggs, sausages and pancakes. I had a chance to try 'Vegemite' on my toast (there was no peanut butter). Vegemite is made of yeast extract: it looks like very thick chocolate sauce, but tastes like a cross between cheese spread and peanut butter. It's very salty and has a tangy flavor. I thought it was okay, but I can see why it hasn't become popular in Canada.
I called a taxi to get to the motorcycle shop. The taxi driver got lost! (It was his first day on the job.) He handed me a map and says 'Can you show me where it is?' Luckily I had asked at the motel and so could find it!
When we got there, it turned out that the motorcycle wasn't brought over from the North Island on the ferry, so I couldn't start riding until Tuesday at 10 AM. I got the taxi driver to take me back to the motel (we didn't get lost this time).
That meant I was stuck in Christchurch for an extra day. 'Graeme Crosby Motorcycle' was paying for the extra day at the motel, so I wasn't too upset. I decided to go on a bus tour. I went downtown and wandered around a bit.
At 1:30 PM I caught an afternoon tour for $29 NZ ($22 CND) that rode around town by the Avon river to an estuary. All along we heard a commentary from the driver about the history of Christchurch, including the abandoned canal between Christchurch and its port. We bus passengers passed an old cave used hundreds of years before by the moa hunters. We also passed Sumner beach and then drove through the Port hills via the Even's pass. This was a high-up mountain road (say 1000 feet or so). We then got into Lyttleton, the actual port.
We got onto a cruiser and motored out into the harbor. The water was very bright blue-green due to all the silt from the nearby Port hills. While out on the water, we saw a blue penguin: this is a penguin about the size of a duck. We also saw the time-ball building. This building dropped a time ball at 1 PM every day so that the early sailing ships could set their chronometers.
The Port hills were originally covered with shrubs, but these were cleared off by the settlers for sheep grazing. The hills are now green but bare.
We passed by a railway tunnel (built by convicts in the nineteenth century) that is used to carry cargo through the hills from Lyttleton to Christchurch.
Afterwards we drove over the hills to the 'Sign of the Takahe,' a teahouse designed to look like a Scottish baronial manor. (A takahe is a rare bird, by the way.) I looked from the lookout point that faced north over the Canterbury plains. It was a very majestic view of the city, farms, and in the distance to the west, the Southern Alps.
On the way back into town, we passed a corner where someone was giving a 'soapbox' speech to a small crowd. When we got closer, all the NZers on the bus started laughing. The driver then explained to the rest of us that it was the official opposition's leader, Mike Moore of the Labour Party.
We then drove up Dean Avenue to the Dean homestead. Apparently the Avon river begins from an underwater spring on their old farm. The Dean brothers were settlers from Scotland who settled here in the 1850s. I saw their original old cottage.
When I got back to Cathedral Square, I bought a Coke, cheeseburger and a huge bag of hot chips (French fries) for $5 NZ ($4 CND). Since tomorrow is Monday, Labour Day in New Zealand, the motorcycle shop will be closed. I plan to go on an all day bus tour from Christchurch to Akaroa.
One thing I noticed is that there were virtually no fat people in New Zealand. I hadn't seen anyone who was obese who wasn't obviously a tourist. Another thing I noticed is that the population in Christchurch seemed to have fewer baby boomers and more people in their twenties.
There are many older cars. The economy is somewhat poorer, and NZers look at a car as a major purchase, more so than in Canada. 'Kiwis' tend to own their cars longer and upkeep them better.
The drivers here are a bit crazy: no signals, cutting each other off, etc. Occasionally you will hear a car horn toot, but you never see anyone giving the middle finger or swearing at each other. (I hadn't heard one person swear since I first got there!)
There seems to be about the same percentage of motorcycles (always called motorbikes here) as in Victoria at the height of summer (say 5% to 10% of all vehicles). Surprisingly, a large number of them are big twin Harleys: it must be very difficult to afford them here. (About half the motorcycles I saw on the South Island were big twin Harleys.)
I stopped by a motorcycle shop. They had a '93 CBR 600F2 for $13,500 NZ (about $10,300 Canadian). The same bike in Canada is about $8,000 CND plus taxes!
A four door Honda Civic was $30,000 NZ, or about $21,000 CND. The same car in Canada is $15,000 or so CND.
I'd noticed that there were very few American cars: most were Japanese, with a lot of European as well. Especially popular were Rovers, which I hardly ever see in Canada. There were also many camper vans, especially Volkswagen, Suzuki and Daihatsu. I saw NO four wheel drive sport utilities (Bronco, Suburban, Pathfinder, etc.). Very surprising!
The tour bus had kept commenting on the prices of houses. There were some houses in the Cashmere district on top of a hill looking over the city. He claimed that these would sell for $400,000 NZ (about $300,000 CND). Big deal. The same houses in a similar location in Victoria would cost at least $500,000 CND.
There were a large number of bicycles compared to even Victoria (which has many bicycles for Canada). People often call them pushbikes.
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Monday, Oct. 25, 1993 (Labour Day)
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I just saw a TV commercial for 'Peanuts' brand peanut butter. Funny, I never noticed before that Charlie Brown had a Kiwi accent! I reserved a room at the Lake Tekapo Motor Camp. I have a sleeping bag, so I arrange to get a tourist flat instead of a motel room. Tourist flats are the same thing as a motel room, but there's no linen provided. The price is $46 NZ per night as oppsed to $60 NZ for the motel rooms.
I tried to take an all day tour with the same company as yesterday. They weren't running so I caught a tour with Grey Lines. (The price was $87 NZ or $66 CND.) The bus was a small van. Most of the passengers were Japanese tourists. Two of them were in NZ for several months learning English. They were very polite. Then there were the other four Japanese tourists. They were rude, arrogant, and kept laughing at the broken English spoken by the other two Japanese people. There was also an older couple from Auckland. |
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