Fear of Falling

Worth the drive
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Day 22:

Another beautiful day as we left Nelson. If we were going to move here, I think this would be the city. Cathy talked to a women from Atlanta who says there are lots of Americans living in the Nelson area. Certainly a more peaceful life style.

Our departure was via the recommended Queen Charlotte Drive, another breathtaking drive through mountains and along bays. The only problem was this road would give the Road To Hana a run for its money! Not knowing this, Cathy didn’t take her ginger and suffered accordingly. Even Steve got confused at one point when we veered off at a lookout. He said something like “recalculating…drive 200 meters and turn left on foot –track”. We ignored his advice at that point. After that it got weird. Then there was the “drive 200 meters and turn right” which would have put us into a cliff face. The car sickness really was nothing compared to the terror. Chris, you thought the Great Ocean Road looked bad? At least the GOR was intact; in many places the edge of this road was crumbling away. This was the edge along the cliffs; my side; and no barriers. It was quite beautiful, but it was hard to appreciate.  (As much as we bad mouth Steve, it would be hard to get around as easy as we do without him. Ask him where a restaurant is, how to get to an address, where the closet ATM or gas station is, how to get back to our hotel, and he's ready with ongoing narration. It's hard to remember how we did it with old fashioned maps. A new world).

We were up there?
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This was the first real day of rain on our trip, and it alternated between rain and sun every few miles. It did give us a terrific double rainbow that extended all the way from ground to ground. Hope the pictures come out.

The weather is still ‘brisk’. We’re so glad we’re not going any further south because it just gets worse as you go. Queenstown, which it pretty far south, has sleet and snow today. We checked into an airport motel since we’re leaving quite early on Thursday. The room was chilly, so we turned on all 3 heaters. Quite toasty now! And dinner was interesting too. We saw an ad at the hotel for this place and decided to check it out. Turns out to be a local social club that has a bar, restaurant, gaming room, and caters mostly to local families. The restaurant was part cook-to-order and part buffet. Cathy and I differed on our assessment. With the $9 (US) T-bone I got, I said it was our best bargain. She was less than happy with her fish dinner and lack of green vegetables. Which reminds me, french fries seem to be in their own food group. Just about every meal comes with them! Our guide book says that Christchurch is the most English city outside of England. Since we got here at dusk, we really don’t know yet if it looks like England, but the lack of central heating and the bland food with nothing green was surely reminiscent! On the plus side, they have the electric kettle, teapot, and tea always available, and there’s a lot to be said for that. 

Snowy Mountains
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New Zealand does seem far more “English” to me than does Australia. Perhaps the Kiwis, not being sent here from the mother country as convicts, don’t feel the same need to exert their differences. I haven’t been able to tell if there is that same pervasive egalitarian ethos. But my impression is that things are more British here. 

We haven’t had as much contact with the people here, just because the things we’ve done haven’t put us in a place to talk to the natives much. On our trek in Abel Tasman NP, we crossed paths with about a dozen people, none of whom were stopping to chat. (btw, there’s a lot to be said for traveling in the off-season; that trail must be high-traveled in the summer.) Today was a lot of driving and not much contact with people. Maybe on our sightseeing tomorrow we’ll find people to talk to, or on our train ride on Wed.   That’s not to say that people here are unfriendly. Aussies seem more outgoing, but that might be just circumstances. Actually, I find that people everywhere – at least the places we’ve been – are friendly; Aussies are just more overtly so.

No, this wasn't the road we took - too straight!
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Day 23:

We decided to explore Christchurch today, so set off for the city center. A 150 year old cathedral anchors downtown, which we walked briefly around until we decided that we had enough city driving. The area looks like a quaint English town, complete with parks, brick homes, gardens, etc.

To get to its sister port town of Lyttletonyou have two choices: a direct tunnel through the mountain that takes 5 minutes, or a circuitous mountain road over it. Guess which one we took! We wound over the twisty path, past the road closed signs, around hairpin turns with sheer drop-offs, hugging the Cliffside as we hoped not to meet oncoming traffic on the 1.5 lane road. Luckily, or rather alarmingly, there were no other cars up there. Just occasional mountain bikers (and sheep). There was still leftover snow by the side of the road from the previous day. After traveling for a half hour, while Steve protested our choice of route, we reached what looked like the peak (at 6170 feet). The views were fabulous, like from a plane. Although there were no guardrails most of the way, at least we were on the inside rather than the outside of the road this time, so Cathy steeled herself for the trip back and we proceeded down to the bay on the other side. Tea and cookies were our reward for making it through another challenge. Wisely we took the tunnel back. On the nightly news they showed the washed out road we were on and talked about recent landslides. Who says New Zealander’s are the only ones with a sense of adventure!

Let sleeping seals lie
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We had a nice chat with Christchurch natives at a pulloff along the pass. We discussed the universal topic, the weather, here and abroad -- they were once stranded in NYC during a summer heat wave with no luggage. They’d come from England and all they had to wear were their “jumpers” (sweaters). It was very memorable for them! – as well as the scenery, regional dialects, and scary roads. They were very nice, thus confirming what I suspected, that Kiwis are as nice as Aussies. (The word “nice” seems to have overtaken this passage. Well, it’s nice here!)

Double rainbows
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Aus/NZ observations: The restrooms here are among the coldest on earth. Feels like those restrooms in campgrounds that you shivered in. Perhaps they don’t like people lingering there, but even the hand dryers don’t help.

Also, not only has NZ done away with pennies, they’ve also disposed of 5 cent pieces. Simplifies shopping but does not reduce change in your pockets since they have one and two dollar coins instead of bills. Points though for the color and design of their bills.