On the way from Dunedin to Christchurch, is the small town of Oamaru. It seemed a picturesque place to take a break. A lot of nice architecture for a small town.
OK, we needed a rest room stop too. This public facility had a gate they close at night, so on one side it says something like “Sorry we’re closed.” But the other side has this apology in case you get locked in at night. That would be a bit too much adventure!
I can’t believe I’m adding so many pictures of this place, but it was so weird I had to add some. It is called the Steampunk Headquarters Museum, and is odd beyond belief. All sorts of strange sculptures created from random junk, and labeled as though they were important machines from the future. Or past… who knows?
Perhaps the most interesting, in that it was not just old junk repurposed, was The Portal. This was a totally mirrored room; walls, floor, ceiling, even the back of the door you entered by. The only non mirrored part was a small platform to stand on. The rest of the space was filled with light bulbs, which would change colors and intensity for a 2 minute light show. It really was crazy – you could see lights off to infinity in every direction. Fun.
Across the street from the Steampunk weirdness was a little train for tourists. It took off along the bay, but before long we saw it backing up… all the way back to the station! I guess there is no room or tracks for it to turn around, so it just goes out to the end, and backs home. Also weird.
Christchurch is the largest city in the south island of New Zealand, and the second largest in the country. (after Auckland.)
Severe earthquakes in 2020 and 2021 damaged a lot of the city’s beautiful stone buildings. Some are being restored, and some just demolished and replaced. Like most modern cities with a bit of history, there is an interesting mix of new and old architecture.
Maybe the most impressive building pre-earthquake was the Christchurch Cathedral. It was badly damaged, but being an icon, really needed to be restored. Below are two pictures of posters alongside of the restroration area.
Below you see what looks like a completed façade, but it is in fact a painted canvas stretched over the scaffolding surrounding the building.
From the Cathedral Square we walked to the beautiful Christ’s College buildings. They are part of a working college, and so we were not able to go inside the quadrangle.
The nearby Canterbury Museum was… closed for remodeling. They have a “Pop Up” museum elsewhere, but not with the same awesome architecture.
Good news! The Christchurch Botanic Gardens were open! Founded in 1863 to “commemorate the solemnization of the marriage of Prince Albert and Princess Alexandra of Denmark.” It is now a very large and gorgeous park. The river Avon flows through it, and you can go Punting on the Avon right through the park.
At one entrance is the large “Peacock Fountain.” After studying it for a while, we hoped they didn’t think those birds in the middle layer were supposed to look like peacocks. It turns out the fountain “was bought by the Christchurch Beautifying Society from money bequeathed by John Thomas Peacock, a trader, politician and philanthropist.” All this bequeathing occurred in 1911. The fountain has since been rejuvenated.
When my daughters were growing up, and they would acquire a new doll or stuffed animal, often the question arose as to a suitable name. I always recommended “Agapanthus,” because, of course, why not?! Such a lovely name! I’m not sure where I got it, but here is a section of the garden devoted to growing nothing but Agapanthus!
I believe this is another entrance to the Canterbury Museum that we couldn’t get into.
Across the street from the park are these magnificent buildings. We could get into the square they form. Inside there’s an art school, art gallery and such; I’m not sure what the buildings were originally. I did learn something there… If you try and take a panoramic picture of a very long building, passers-by might have their neck removed!
Another attraction that was OPEN, was this cute little gelato stand. We deserved it! And it was really good…
One evening we had the pleasure of dining with a friend we haven’t seen for many many years. We knew Betty when she lived near us in Colorado, but she and her husband Ed (from New Zealand) moved back to his home country 16 years ago. Unfortunately, Ed has passed away, but Betty is loving New Zealand and will continue to live here. It was really fun to get caught up with her and see how well she is doing. (The Thai restaurant she recommended was superb, also!)
We took a water taxi out to Quail Island, not too far from Christchurch. I include pictures of the boat’s helm, because the chart plotter on the right was obviously inoperative, and the captain had pasted a chart of the harbor over the screen. Fun!
Quail Island has quite a history. Supposedly it got its English name for native quail found here in 1842… but by 1875 they were extinct. Again I copy from printed info: “Europeans briefly farmed the island in 1851, before it was turned into a quarantine station in 1875, a hospital during the influenza epidemic of 1907, and a small leper colony from 1906 to 1925.” Some buildings remain from some of those functions, but not much. Now it is used for hiking and birding. There are wonderful views of the mainland.
After the earthquakes damaged so much of Christchurch, some of the rebuilding was very creative. This is formally called the Christchurch Transitional Cathedral, but it has an interesting nickname. It was built as an “Emergency Structure,” using 98 cardboard tubes, covered in plastic. This new “Cardboard Cathedral” has, in its triangular front window, images from the Rose Window of the original Christchurch Cathedral. It is supposedly built to last 50 years. I hope the other Cathedral is finished by then!
On the walls enclosing another construction site is this poster of a new stadium-to-be. They are working hard on it, but have a ways to go!
While in Montana at a hot springs last year, we met a couple of adorable gals from Australia and New Zealand. When they found we were planning a trip “down under,” they gave us addresses and info so we could meet up. Well, it worked! We met with Mikayla and had a wonderful evening together. (And the Indian restaurant she chose was great too!)
I’ve always admired the nice little hand drawn signs that restaurants and pubs often use. Some are so artistic! As we left the restaurant, I saw this gal writing up a sign. I’m sure she was very surprised that I wanted her picture doing that!
We’d enjoyed that dinner in the suburb of Sumner, right on the coast. So after dinner we had a walk along the beach. An interesting cave on the beach let you explore inside the rock, and hike to the top!
While some folks were surfing, some rescue teams were practicing launching their craft in the waves. It was fun to see them hit the waves and point up at an alarming angle!
From Christchurch we continued north up the coast to Kiakoura. This is a charming little town right on the ocean.
Our little room in Kiakoura was right across the street from the sea. If walking in front of a guy taking a panoramic photo is dangerous, driving in front of one is too… this guy got his car seriously shortened!
Again a lot of gorgeous coastline to explore. The colors of sea and sky were fabulous.
There were hundreds of seals on the rocks, many playing in the shallow pools. Here’s a short video of about 1% of them…
The interesting rock strata here needed a closer look…
Some crazy mixed up layers!
I’ve saved the week’s bird pictures for last… Here are the first birds we saw on Quail Island! California Quail. The native quail went extinct a hundred and fifty years ago, but these are here now and it was fun to see quail first.
The New Zealand Fantail is a very cute little bird. He darts all over the place, and seems to really like people. He will come very close to you, and looks like he wants to be your best buddy. In reality, I hear they like the insects that sometimes we disturb. They’re cute anyway.
The Silvereye is distinctive, and always looks excited!
Here’s a Fantail spreading his fantail out a bit more. They can go very wide – it’s wild to see them that way… but not easy to photograph. They move pretty fast!
A variegated Oystercatcher and a Pied Cormorant:
And a masked Lapwing.
That’s enough birds for now…
So lovely to see you both! Hope the rest of your travels have been wonderful.
Mikayla