Adventure 2 - Part 4 - From Nelson to Kaikoura - 5 January

Nicky suggested that we try and have a look at some of the Sounds as we were in that area.  We have travelled on the Marlborough sound before when we took the ferry from Picton to Wellington last time.  But this time we saw them "up close and personal" - so beautiful especially in the sun.  The roads - not so much!

What amazes me is the number of people who follow the "Kiwi Dream" of taking a caravan to the beach!  NO ONE should drive a caravan on those roads!!  No ONE!!!

As we drove into Picton, we saw this cruise ship - the cruise ships circle NZ right through the summer months.  Probably the closest we'll get to a cruise this year!

And on to Kaikoura

We went to Kaikoura on the E Coast (between Picton and Christchurch) last time and loved it.  Its always risky going back to a place you loved in case it doesn't live up to expectations.  But this visit did.

What a stunningly beautiful part of a stunningly beautiful country.

The Coastal Scenic train - we played "tag" with it for quite a long part of the journey - what a wonderful trip it must be.  Another time .....

This is seal, dolphin and whale country.  But seals are the only ones you can see without going on a boat out to sea.  I think Hermanus might be somewhere to go this year!

Amazing vistas

And so back home - Adventure 2 under our belts!

Adventure 2 - Part 3 - 4 January - Nelson - Ruby Bay - Golden Bay

We woke to bright sunshine and with the long day (sunset at 9.25) we had a wonderful days' adventure.

We drove West from Nelson towards the Abel Tasman Park and then beyond it to Golden Bay.  Amazing views, beautiful place to visit but THE ROADS!  Narrow and winding, we would call them passes in South Africa, but there, they are just roads over hills.

Ruby Bay - Mapua

We stopped in this gorgeous little town for coffee - good coffee, good views and good shopping

Beaches

After the rain (which caused the cancellation of the Cricket Test against Sri Lanka in Nelson the week before) - everyone was on the beach!

We managed to find a great beach with the most amazing houses around it - this beach is called Little Kaiteriteri Beach - a bit more exclusive and less crowded.

Views

The windy roads up the hills meant we got amazing views the higher we went

Fruit!!

Nelson and surrounds supplies much of the deciduous fruit to New Zealand.  We bough the best cherries I have ever tasted - Ficksburg, eat your heart out (although I think the Ficksburg Cherry Festival is on my list for 2016)

Real fruit ice cream has to be tasted to be believed.  We had cherry ice-cream - we were so eager to try it we forgot to take a picture!

Adventure 2 Part 2 - 2 and 3 January - The West Coast

Over to the West Coast

We have been to the West Coast of S Island once before - and it rained.  This time - it rained!  As the area gets 6m of rain a year, that is not surprising.  I know that the Southern Alps are stretched out along the coast and that they are utterly magnificent.  I know it - but if I didn't, I wouldn't have believed that they were there.  Rain and mist - that's what I saw!

The roads are narrow and windy - but it was so beautiful we just enjoyed the wildness and wetness - and the glimpse of the glacier between the rain storms.

Pete spent his 65 birthday driving a LONG way from Franz Josef to Nelson - I am so glad he retired at 60 and didn't wait till 65 - what a lot we would have missed.

A view towards the Southern Alps from the Canterbury plains - that was before the rain started.

Over Arthur's Pass to the West Coast

Wonderful braided rivers - the rain and mist is setting in

Hokitika - a seaside resort - but not much beach for the holiday makers that day!

The rivers are this amazing colour as they are full of glacial "flour" very fine rock particles which have been ground up by the movement of the glaciers.  It is beautiful to see. 

The Franz Josef Glacier - it is impossible to describe how awesome it looks - like a frozen waterfall which has got stuck in the mountains.  See the U shaped valley ground down by the glacier.

Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki - amazing rock formations.

Adventure 2 Part 1 - Christchurch 31 December - 2 January

As we were spending 7 weeks in New Zealand (owing to amazing airfares as long as we stayed that long) we decided to have a mini-break on the South Island at New Year.

Nic helped us book and was very envious as we set off :-)

We have visited the South Island before - we went with Nic and Ray in 2010.  But this time we visited some of the places we haven't been to before, as well as visiting Christchurch again.

The last time we visited Christchurch was before the devastating earthquakes.  A lot was different, and yet a lot was the same.  The adaptability of people and animals is amazing.

This picture gallery shares a few of the sights and experiences.

Things that haven't changed

The historic tram still runs through the city - but this time much of the commentary was about the quake and the rebuilding

The beautiful Botanical gardens are still lovely - I thought of my Mom as we walked through the Rose Garden

Punting on the Avon is still a tourist attraction

A lovely sculpture in the gardens

But a lot has changed

Construction everywhere you look

I remember sitting in this street having a drink last time - now it is slowly starting to open after being closed for almost 5 years.

Empty lots and half demolished buildings wait for the infrastructure like water and sewers to be completed before rebuilding can happen.  And of course, wait for money from the relief fund.

The Cathedral

The cathedral stood as a beacon of hope after the first quake, but crumbled in the second.  It has been deconsecrated and as our tram driver said "is now the biggest pigeon loft in the S Hemisphere"

Plans to rebuild have been dogged by controversy and there is still no announcement on what will be done - will it be rebuilt in a modern style or reconstructed as it was?  Who knows?  The Church needs to make up its mind before the CBD dies with the ruins.

Determination and Innovation

The transitional Cathedral is an amazing building made of steel, natural wood, polycarbonate and - yes - cardboard.

We will remember

187 chairs representing each of the people who died in the quake.  A poignant remembrance that their seats will always remain empty.

The First Ruby Date

20 - 22 December 2015

Our first "adventure" was a trip to Wairata - a Farmstay in the Waioeka River Gorge.

Pete wanted to fish, so we left Nic, Ray and the kids at home in Tauranga and drove East through Te Puke, Whakatane, Ohopi, Opotiki and then inland through the gorge.

The view across to White Island between Opotiki and Ohopi

The view from our deck

The Wairata Farmstead was amazing - a little self-contained cabin with bathroom and a cooking corner, a lovely deck looking out over the paddock filled with sheep and beehives, and an amazing river where Pete spent most of his time. I spent my time reading - 5 books in 2 days - granted, some of them were quite short, but still ......

The proprietors, Bob and Mary, are great people - friendly, chatty and mines of information.  Mary even dropped off a recipe for me on the way to work on our last morning.

A highlight was watching the sheepdogs working the stock - sheep and cows - just on the other side of the fence.

Only drawback - the sandflies which loved me.

We will definitely go back the next time we visit New Zealand.

Forty years to celebrate ......

On 11 December 1975 Pete and I got married in St John's Anglican Church, Ixopo.

That wasn't the beginning of "And the Prince and the princess got married and lived happily ever after"  There have been tough times in the last 39 years.  There have been times that stretched and grew us.  There have been heartbreaking losses of the people we have loved all our lives - my mom and dad, Pete's Dad, our beloved grandparents. There has been illness and struggles with jobs. Right now, facing growing old is pretty damn scary.

But there have been times of joy and love which have carried us through the harder times.  There are our children and grandchildren - Sarah, Nic, Riaan, Ray, Sihle, Kevin, Emily and Ben - who give us more happiness than anyone should be allowed to have.  There is our extended family, our friends, treasured work colleagues. There has been adventure and fun - awesome trips to places near and far.

When we reached our Silver Wedding Anniversary, we decided that instead of a party, we'd plan a special trip and had 2 weeks in London - just before Christmas - it was amazing!

So for our 30th, we decided to do something similar.  We were able to stay with a friend of Sarah's and spent 2 weeks in the South of France - we didn't go on our anniversary, because it would have been too cold, but instead, went at the end of the European summer - magic!

When we had been married 35 years, we spent some time in New Zealand with friends who were married 4 days after us, visiting the Taranaki region of the North Island.

So in this 40th year of our marriage, how are we going to celebrate the wonders of such a long term relationship - something that is getting increasingly rarer in the world we live in.

I've been planning for a couple of years - I read an article in an Air New Zealand magazine about a trip from Athens to Istanbul on a small cruise ship and that is what I wanted to do.  Lots of research later and a small cruise ship around Croatia became another possibility.  And it was all over bar the booking.

UNTIL the Rand went into freefall and we had to say that a trip to Europe and Asia was not going to happen this year.

We've kicked around lots of other ideas - Zanzibar, Lamu, Mauritius, other places in Southern Africa like Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland - but this is what we have finally come up with.

40 "adventures" this year - some big, some small, but all mindfully celebrating the "ever after" that we embarked on in 1975.

We've done some already - so watch this space as I chronicle the 40 Ruby dates we're going to have this year.