Back to Christchurch

It’s Friday, April third. Our drive from Hanmer Springs to Christchurch takes about two hours, driving out of lush mountain valleys onto the Canterbury Plain. Along the way, Ed pulls over when he sees a large flock of sheep being herded by well trained dogs, moving them to a new pasture. Soon we are back in more densely populated areas, more cars and people. We navigate into Christchurch and to our home for the next three days, a charming little place called the “Entwhistle Cottage”, The home is close to Cathedral Square, the hub of the city, and the River Avon which winds through the city. We arrive too early to check-in, but we are kindly allowed to leave our baggage while the cleaning is completed. In the home, we are greeted with fresh sunflowers and home made brownies. C&E make plans to check out the gondola ride to the top of a volcanic peak just east of the city. Once on top they will ride rented bikes back down to a pickup point. D&P have decided to walk the city along the Avon and make their way to the city Art Museum. This is an impressive modern structure currently featuring a prolific native New Zealand painter, Rita Angus. We really enjoyed being introduced to her work, and were quite impressed with the range of style and her use of color. We especially enjoyed her landscapes of many places we have visited this month.

The four of us unite for a fine dinner cobbled together from leftovers and toast our great travel planner, Colleen, for finding this jewel of a place to stay. At night we take a long walk from Cathedral Square following the Avon River, crossing many of its bridges until getting back to our neighborhood.

Saturday, April fourth, is Dianne’s New Zealand birthday (it’s only April 3rd back home). Today we will drive east from Christchurch, about 70Km out onto the Banks peninsula. This area was formed by a huge, ancient volcanic eruption which formed the land mass out into the Pacific with steep cliffs and numerous bays. We are bound for the town of Akoroa out near the tip of the peninsula, where we have reservations for the “Dolphin encounter”. The endangered Hector’s Dolphin, estimated to number only about 7000 in the world, hang out here in the bay and are known to approach people. This is the second smallest dolphin, about the size of a sheep ( I don’t know why that comparison comes to mind), and they have a stumpy, rounded dorsal fin. We are instructed about the dolphins, especially that we can not touch them, we can only wait for them to come to us.

We all squeeze into “snug fitting”wet suits, a gross understatement, (where is WD-40 when you need it?), and then our boat is off in search of our quarry. A few Hector’s approach and our captain slows and circles as the dolphin go under the boat. The boat stops, and before we know it we are in the cold water, in our wetsuits, bobbing like corks, waiting for the dolphins to greet us. The dolphin have better things to do apparently, like finding fish to eat. So we reboard the boat, and off again we go in search of our finny friends. Over the next 90 minutes or so, there are numerous sightings, but the Hector’s are quickly off and out of view, presumably diving for fish. Some us us are silently appreciative that we didn’t have to re-enter the cold Pacific, but it was a bit disappointing that the Hectors didn’t honor us with their presence. Back ashore, we all have a good laugh as we tried getting out of the wetsuits amid much grunting and straining (“Peel it off like a banana ladies”).

We spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying sites of the peninsula as we drive our way back to Christchurch via the hillside port city of Lytlleton. We stop there at an Irish pub to have a birthday celebratory drink. Dianne orders a martini. The bartender cannot find the martini bottle on the shelf. Dianne says try vodka with olive juice. They have vodka but no olives. We are informed that martinis are too sophisticated and that the usual birthday drink is “a yard” of beer, that is , a very large glass indeed. Dianne orders scotch instead, and we then sit outside and enjoy a view of the harbor.

Colleen and Ed have generously offered to take D&P out to dinner at Lotus Heart, a vegetarian restaurant on Cathedral Square. The menu is primarily south Indian, with some fine veggie burgers added. The restaurant is operated by devotees of a meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy, with a mission of promoting world peace through healthy eating. We have a wonderful dinner, the staff is dressed in saris and so friendly and attentive. The food is delicious with ample portions. When our server learns it is Dianne’s birthday, she gets very excited and soon the entire restaurant staff has surrounded us and is singing a lovely birthday song, written by their spiritual leader, before singing a chorus of “Happy Birthday” accompanied by a piece of chocolate cake. Dianne was deeply touched by this lovely gesture.