Life is not measured ....

Tekapo .. a big success second time round

The first Labour Day in New Zealand was celebrated on 28 October 1890, when several thousand trade union members and supporters attended parades in the main centres. Government employees were given the day off to attend. It celebrated the struggle for an eight-hour working day, a right that New Zealand workers had been among the first in the world to claim, when in 1840 the carpenter Samuel Parnell had won an eight-hour day in Wellington.

For us and most other Kiwis these days it means a long weekend and we had some unfinished plans in Tekapo after our first attempt was cut short after Ben’s skiing incident. In the run up to the weekend, the weather wasn’t looking too flash so we decided not to book anything in advance and just set off in the “bus” with expectations fairly low and the kids reassured that the ski season was finished so definitely no chance of a detour to Roundhill.

It turned out to be one of the most action packed, amazing weekends we have probably ever had and the sun followed us wherever we went.

Oamaru and Tekapo photos

We started with a 4 hour drive from Christchurch down the east coast, first stop the beach and the Moeraki Boulders:


The Mystery of the Moeraki Boulders (information from Coastal Sanctuary)





Maori legend tells of a great migration, in large sea going waka or canoes, which brought them to Aotearoa from their ancestral home of Hawaiki. That same legend tells of an ill-fated greenstone gathering trip of the waka of the Araiteuru people which was wrecked nearby.While the remains of the vessel became a reef and kumara (sweet potato) became rocks, the round food baskets or te kahinaki were washed ashore and formed the almost perfectly spherical boulders scattered along a 50 metre stretch of the beach.


For the less romantic, the scientific explanation describes the boulders as septarian concretions - a rare phenomenon formed on the seabed about 60 million years ago as lime salts accumulated around a hard centre.When the seabed later became raised, the soft sandstone around the boulders began to be weathered away releasing the boulders from the embankment above the beach.

From here we took a short drive back to Oamaru where we booked ourselves into the Ocean View Apartment for the evening, run by Nicola and Peter Mountain, an eccentric, old style English couple, they made us very welcome and located on top of a hill, it did indeed have great views. We offloaded the car and then went down to the harbour where just after sunset you can watch the Blue Penguins return after a hard day out fishing and waddle up the beach to their nests. About 140 came up the beach in two rafts.

The next day after a quick wander round Oamaru we got back in the car for the drive from Oamaru inland to Tekapo. On the way we diverted off on part of the Vanished World Heritage Trail to the Eathquake Rocks, where as well as the rocks to climb on we also saw some fossilised whale bones. There are 20 stopping points on this trail and we only had time for one on this trip. Further up the road there is evidence of Maori art in the rocks and then the scenery changes to the lakes and dams. We stopped overlooking Lake Aviemore (I remember holidays as a kid in the Scottish original!) for a picnic and watched a few minutes of the Sunday sailing. Benmore Dam looks pretty impressive and this time round we kept going past Omarama so we missed the clay cliffs (you probably see where I am going with this – plenty of reasons to return for another visit!). Shortly before Tekapo the road passes round the south point of Lake Pukaki and our first views of Mount Cook.



It was now nearing 4pm and by this time we had already taken in more experiences than we thought would be possible in one day but we still had two major things booked in for the day (and the reason that we pushed on at some of our earlier stops).

The first was a flight we had booked over Mount Cook and the glaciers. We arrived at the airfield and boarded the 8 seater plane to discover that it was just us and the pilot. What followed was 40 minutes following the Grand Traverse and the most mind blowing views I think any of us have ever seen. It is hard to describe the sheer scale of the lakes, the mountains and the glacial formations of this region. Definitely, a once in a lifetime experience.

At this point we thought we’d best find somewhere to stay for the night, we were also trying to check out some accommodation options for later in the summer when we have visitors. Again we landed on our feet, finding ourselves at Parkbrae Estate in the Tower. Comfortable, new accommodation with friendly owners, plenty of room in the garden for Louise and Daniel to play (they loved the dog and came back with massive pine cones) and for us a balcony with views over Lake Tekapo and the Church of the Good Shephard.

Evening was now drawing in, so we clad ourselves in our warm gear and met up with Freydl, our American guide for the evening at Mount John Observatory. Tekapo has some of the clearest night skies in New Zealand with very little light pollution and the observatory is run by Canterbury University. As Louise and Daniel are still quite young, the Earth and Sky centre that run the tours do an earlier family slot and then a later night viewing, for us this meant that we had our own private tour. We watched the sunset from the top of the hill, were shown round the largest of the telescopes and then looked through one of the smaller ones. As it became darker the stars exploded into the sky, Louise and Daniel were thrilled to see the Milky Way.

After a good night’s sleep, we could hardly believe that the weather was still holding so we pushed on and decided to spend the day at Mount Cook National Park.
The drive follows Lake Pukaki with Mt Cook directly ahead. The park itself covers the valley which is littered with rocks where thousands of years ago it was all glacier. It is a harsh landscape and we were dwarfed by the surrounding mountains. There are a number of walking tracks and the one that we were interested in was 30 minute walk to the terminal lake of the Tasman Glacier. From here we boarded what can best be described as a dinghy and took a trip in amongst the icebergs right up to the face of the glacier. Louise and Daniel both had a go at driving the boat and we were able to walk on the icebergs. The water is a silky grey colour which results from the dense chalky stone being churned, it’s cold at between 0.7 and 4 degC (we stuck our fingers in and after 10 seconds they hurt). As our guide maneuvered the boat in amongst the ice, the different formations of ice and colours were amazing and every so often there would be a crashing as ice broke off and splashed into the water below.

Buzzing from the last three days we reluctantly drove back to Tekapo, by now a southerly storm on its way so we stopped and had pizza at Pepe’s in front of the open fire before heading back home.

What and unbelievable weekend.

posted by Sharon, Ben, Louise and Daniel @ 10:28 am 3 comments

Our pacific journey rolls on

Latest stop …. Cairns.

Two weeks of spring school holidays so Louise, Daniel and I took the opportunity to catch a flight over to Australia, spent the weekend with friends in Brisbane and then travelled up the coast.

Cairns was a real surprise for me, I expected to be wowed by the Great Barrier Reef but in fact it was the rainforest and inland scenery that completely blew us away.

The flight path from Brisbane up to Cairns follows the coast line and we were sat on the right side of the plane to have spectacular views the whole way – beaches, islands and the reef all from above.

It was strange to be travelling with just the kids and not Ben. I think I’ve become pretty good at searching out good travel spots and accommodation that balances the needs of the kids with our ideal of being slightly off the beaten track and living a bit on the edge but I was pleased to find that I was still prepared to be a bit adventurous even on my own. It was a good confidence thing, we had a blast, we did miss Ben though.

We were staying about 15 minutes north of Cairns at Trinity Beach in apartments at Marlin Cove. It was an ideal base and we all loved the lagoon pool. On our first day we took a boat trip out to Green Island and saw the reef from a semi-sub and glass bottomed boat. I have to say that I was slightly disappointed with the variety of fish and colours that we got to see, perhaps we should have gone further out to the outer reef but the kids enjoyed it.

On the second day, we had an early start and took a steam train from Freshwater station up to Kuranda. An hour through the rainforest, past the Barron Falls and up to the market town of Kuranda where we spent a couple of hours wandering through the streets stopping to notice the artwork on shop fronts and pavements. We then took the Skyrail on the way down, 7.5km over the top of the rainforest, stopping off at the falls and at the highest point of the forest to walk on the boardwalk. We learnt about how plants survive in the dark of the forest floor, spotted lots of climbers and a couple of rainforest giants which towered above us. Once back at sea level, it was then onto Tjapukai, an Aboriginal centre. Tjapukai (jab-oo-kai) has won a number of awards and whilst it was a bit organised for me, it was an amazing place. We started in the history theatre where we saw a film about the history of the tribe (Louise is still retelling the stories) and then saw an interactive laser show. We watched aboriginal dancing and didgeridoo playing and then the kids had a go at spear and boomerang throwing (they curled but didn’t come back on the first attempt so we have brought two back with us so that we can practice at the park!).

The following day we had a hire car and did a four hour circuit through sugar cane and pineapple plantations to Lake Eacham, where we had a swim, a picnic and watched some turtles. We stopped at Millaa Millaa and Zillie waterfalls and noticed how orange the sand was, it was a very pretty drive. We passed some of the time in the car by making up a series of stories about Bill and Bob, two ants who have adventures with a range of Australian animals – wombats, platypus and crocodiles.

On our final day we drove up the coast to port Douglas and walked round the marina before going back to Marlin Cove for one last swim. By the time we got on the plane back to Brisbane we were all exhausted.

One of the main reasons for travelling to Brisbane was to see family friends Joyce and Noel. We stopped here on our way over in April and since then Noel has had a minor stroke. Unfortunately Noel is now in hospital with an as yet unknown but possible fungal infection which is affecting his brain. Obviously it is a difficult time for Joyce and their daughter, my friend Lesley. We kept the kids busy mainly on the nearby beaches (Daniel has announced that as well as being in a band he also wants to be a surfer – he has started by practising on his boogie board as you can see from the photos). Louise and Daniel have also been watching the crocodile hunter series and have been captured by the stories in the press since Steve Irwin’s death a few weeks ago - I put aside my strange views about zoos for a day and we went to Australia zoo, Louise and Daniel enjoyed the crocs.

Cairns photos

We are now back at home and have a few more days before the start of the summer term. This way of life can’t last forever! Ben has noticed that he is working hard whilst I am spending hard!!

posted by Sharon, Ben, Louise and Daniel @ 12:12 pm 1 comments