So where shall we go for our holiday this year, for the first time without the children? Well, you may recall that Chris sings with the Canterbury Choral Society. This year is the 150th anniversary of the founding of Christchurch, New Zealand. A choral work had been commissioned from English composer Francis Grier; it was called “Around the Curve of the World” and told the story of the journey of the new settlers from Plymouth in 1850 to Christchurch. This would be performed in various places in the UK including Canterbury Cathedral, and also in Christchurch New Zealand three weeks later. Emails were sent around to see if any choir members were interested in exchange visits.
Several were, and we thought what a wonderful idea for a holiday. So plans were made. We would be staying with a Christchurch choir member and her fiancé, who, as it turned out, came over and stayed with us for a week to sing in our performance. After the Christchurch performance, we would hire a campervan and tour round South Island for two weeks. Most of these plans were made quite early in the year, the holiday was actually in November, which is spring time in New Zealand, a very pleasant time to be there.
In the end as various people dropped out, we were the only ones going to New Zealand, and Stella and Alistair were the only ones coming from New Zealand. During the final rehearsal we met the composer and some of the soloists, one of whom would also be going to New Zealand to sing the work. Its surprising how many choral society members have New Zealand connections, we have made some new friends. The Lord Mayor of Canterbury got to hear about the trip, and gave us a letter of welcome to deliver to the Mayor of Christchurch. We felt like ambassadors.
How did we get there? Well, 25 hours or so of flying with an enforced delay in Los Angeles due to the aircraft being taken out of service, but at least we can say that we have been out on streets of Los Angeles! Stella met us at Christchurch airport and took us back to her house, which is in the hills on the edge of Christchurch with an absolutely fabulous view over the city to the snow-capped mountains in the distance. So we sat on the balcony sipping wine taking in the vast panoramic view. “The Curve” was performed in Christchurch Town Hall along with another work telling the story of one of the Maori Chiefs and his journey to the South Island. This was sung partly in Maori and had a cultural group performing traditional songs and dances. Very colourful! The next day we collected our campervan and set off south.
The aim was to drive around and see as much of South Island as possible. It soon became apparent that there was too much to see! The scenery was so spectacular that you just had to stop for a while and take it all in. Ice-blue lakes leading away to snow-capped mountains, temperate rain forests, wide dusty riverbeds, deep gorges. The road through one on them was just “pegged” into the vertical rock face with nothing underneath. José drove the van on this occasion. We stopped at campsites each night, some inland, where we awoke to snow, and some by the sea. What made it all the more pleasant was the fact that there were so few cars on these big wide (and on the Canterbury Plains, boringly straight) roads. The towns and villages had wide roads set out on a grid system with parking spaces each side and sometimes in the middle too.
Our first night was spent inland at Lake Tekapo close to the Mount Cook Range. Mount Cook's Maori name, Aoraki means 'Cloud Piercer' and that is how we saw it – the very summit just showing above the clouds! Later down on the west coast we saw the setting sun light up the summit, we never saw the bulk of the mountain! On the east coast we went penguin watching and in one day saw one of the rarest – the Yellow-eyed Penguin and the smallest, the Blue Penguin only 30 cms high. There is a sizeable colony of these little birds at Oamaru and each evening you can go to a specified site to watch them return from their feeding grounds out at sea. A wonderful couple of hour’s entertainment!
We stood at the southern-most point of South Island, nearer to the South Pole than we were to the Equator and drove along the rough gravel roads of the Southern Scenic Route. Even fewer people here, if at all possible. We stopped far too long at empty beaches, hunted for shells, and marvelled at the size of the driftwood. José wanted to bring some back as garden features! After Invercargill, we tuned north and spent a couple of days in Fiordland. Here we had a day trip by boat across Lake Manapouri and then on Doubtful Sound out into the Tasman Sea. This area can only be reached by boat and was incredibly peaceful. Dolphins played around the boat, we saw Southern Fur Seals and our third penguin species – the Fiordland Crested Penguin. It was during the night here that we experienced an earth tremor. This is quite common as we were on a plate boundary. Chris thought it was José rocking the van turning over in her sleep.
Inland again with a brief stop at Queenstown and then a wonderful drive through the Haast Pass to bring us out on the West Coast south of Greymouth. At this point, the Antarctic type flora and fauna are at the northern point of their range and the sub-tropical plants and trees are beginning to appear. A night at Fox Glacier gave us the chance to see our first live possums; usually they are flat on the road, (the best place for them apparently!) and to visit a glowworm grotto. We had hoped to do a helihike on the Glacier but the cloud cover was too low, so we had to make do with a walk to end of it. Another fascinating hour or so watching the ice melt! (More exiting than watching paint dry!)
All too soon our two weeks had come to an end and with only a couple of days left we had to cut across the Southern Alps back to Christchurch on the East Coast. We managed at couple of hours at Shanty Town near Greymouth. This is a reconstruction of a 19th century gold rush town. José tried her hand at gold panning before we set off through the Otira Gorge and Arthur's Pass. This was the only day it rained. Our chosen campsite for our last night was at Diamond Bay on Lyttleton Harbour near Christchurch. It was in Lyttleton Harbour that the first Christchurch settlers landed. A leisurely drive next morning in glorious sunshine took us on the winding road around the bays. A quick visit to say farewell to Stella and Alistair and then it was time to return the campervan and start the 25-hour flight back. No hold ups at Los Angeles this time, wonderful sunset across the mountains just after take-off, and much later amazing colours of sunrise at 33,000 ft. Next morning the rain and misery of an exceptionally bad British autumn!
So, a busy an exciting year! Benjamin and Elizabeth enjoyed their three weeks living at home without us and we enjoyed our holiday without them! No doubt 2001 will be as busy, although we have no travel plans yet. (Yes we have! We’re off to Orkney again, then the OMA reunion!!). We all hope that your year has been as pleasant and as memorable as ours.
