• Te Waka a Maui - 3

  • Caterbury and Kaikoura

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Te Waka a Maui 3

Te Waka a Maui - "Maui's Canoe" - the South Island of New Zealand.

This is the last part of our South Island journey in 2008. From Wanaka we drove through the Lindis Pass and down to the east coast at Moeraki, where we saw the peculiar Moeraki Boulders. Then up to Christchurch to visit rellies and have a quick trip around Bank's Peninsula. Our final major stop was Kaikoura, a beautiful and fascinating place that is bountiful with marine life. Then it was back to Picton and onto the ferry to the North Island.

We caught our ferry - a bit reluctantly. It had been a great trip. When can we do it again?

To see the North Island part of our journey, see Te Ika a Maui.

Te Ika

On the Road Again

Time to get a move on. We didn't have many days left and we had to get to the Cook Strait ferry in time for our reservation.

We drove to the coast via the Lindis Pass, visited Kurow, Duntroon and Moeraki, then turned north. On to Christchurch and Akaroa, then Kaikoura, and back to Picton for our ferry.

Lindis Pass

The Lindis Pass leads to the Mackenzie country, where in 1820 James Mackenzie hid the sheep he stole with the aid of his clever dog. Then on to Kurow, with its two-toned pub and whimsical hay bale installation. Kurow was being visited by a flock of sports cars too.

Maori rock paintings, elephant rocks, and then Moeraki.

  • Aston Martins galore

    Lindis Kurow

  • .. one gateway to the Mackenzie Country, named after a famed sheep stealer

    Lindis Lindis Pass

  • Field supervisor

    Lindis Field supervisor

  • Maori rock painting of people and a taniwha

    Lindis Maori rock painting

  • If you have two sponsors show off both of them

    Lindis Two sponsors

  • Hay there from Kurow

    Lindis Hay there

  • Curious rock formations known as the Elephant Rocks. They have a resident crew of lawn keepers in woolly coats.

    Lindis Elephant Rocks

  • Suspicious gaze from the lawn mowing crew

    Lindis Suspicious

  • Kurow stop on a sports car outing

    Lindis Kurow stop

Moeraki

The Moeraki Boulders litter the beach. They look like very large cannon balls left lying around by a careless navy. They have a magnetic attraction for tour buses - but with a bit of luck and timing you can pretend the beach is deserted.

  • We have a thing about rocks it seems.

    Moeraki _MG_5328

  • All that is left of a former boulder

    Moeraki All that is left

  • Just waiting for more boulders to drop out of the cliff

    Moeraki _MG_5418

  • In search of a brass monkey?

    Moeraki In search of a brass monkey

  • Moeraki Boulder exploded from over-use?

    Moeraki Moeracki Boulder

  • Moeraki Boulders by the ton

    Moeraki _MG_5344

  • Akaroa Harbour, on the tip of Bank's Peninsula

    Moeraki Akaroa Harbour

  • Remnant of an interesting rock as seen on Moeraki beach

    Moeraki Remnant of an interesting rock

  • This natural soccer ball would take some effort to kick

    Moeraki _MG_5377

Akaroa and Christchurch

We pressed on up the coast to Christchurch where we were entertained by hospitable cousins and shown the wonders of Bank's Peninsula. We drove out to the end of the penisula through dry rolling hills to the little town of Akaroa and its attendant harbour.

Akaroa is a pretty little spot but ultimately slightly disapponting because it seems to have largely forgotten its origins as an historic French settlement - except for the tourists of course, but it wasn't very convincing.

Then back to Christchurch to admire the very fine new Art Gallery, an elegant contermporary spectacle in glass and aluminium. Well engineered too as it turned out a few years later when it handily survived the Christchurch earthquake.

  • Patterns in glass and aluminium make up the facade of the Christchurch Art Gallery

    Akaroa Patterns

  • This one looks colonial - not French - but it does look lovely

    Akaroa Colonial cottage

  • Amberley Beach beside the campground

    Akaroa Amberley Beach

  • A neat little fish boat

    Akaroa Fish boat

  • And the cottage style looks kinda French

    Akaroa Cottage style

  • Akaroa is supposedly French but not convincingly so. At least the car is a Citroen Deux Chevaux

    Akaroa Deux Chevaux

  • Akaroa Harbour, on the tip of Bank's Peninsula

    Akaroa Akaroa Harbour

  • Christchurch Art Gallery opened in 2003. Despite all the glass it survived the 2011 earthquake in good order.

    Akaroa Christchurch Art Gallery

  • Christchurch Art Gallery is a strking contemporary building

    Akaroa Christchurch Art Gallery

  • Christchurch Art Gallery front facade

    Akaroa Christchurch Art Gallery

  • Akaroa Banks Peninsula views

Kaikoura

Kaikoura is another of those places with a special magic. It is a pretty piece of coast - very pretty - but its main claim to fame is the abundance of marine life due to the rich food source in the nearby undersea Hikurangi Trench. Plenty to do - we had a great day and a half there - but we needed longer, and this was our last major stop in the South Island. Next time maybe.

Kaikoura

  • Golden afternoon

    Kaikoura Golden afternoon

  • With the right light the sea is vivid

    Kaikoura Vivid sea

  • Looking north from Kaikoura

    Kaikoura Ingles Bay

  • Remnant limestone pinnicle

    Kaikoura Remnant pinnicle

  • You would probably not want to land a boat here

    Kaikoura Guarded by rocks

  • Cliff walk before lunch

    Kaikoura Cliff walk before lunch

  • This one looks like he's about to deliver a pithy comment

    Kaikoura Pithy look

  • Surrounded by crashing waves - mesmerizing to watch

    Kaikoura Crashing waves

  • Departing in haste

    Kaikoura Leaving

  • Tending the water garden

    Kaikoura Tending

  • It is a rocky coast and it looks volcanic

    Kaikoura More teeth

  • My neck is so fat it's hard to turn

    Kaikoura Overhead view

  • More rockpool colour

    Kaikoura Shoreline colours

  • This one looks like he's about to deliver a pithy comment

    Kaikoura Pithy look

  • it is peaceful at the end of day

    Kaikoura Despite the turmoil

  • Toothy shoreline of the Kaikoura Peninsula

    Kaikoura Toothy shoreline

  • Damned good crayfish

    Kaikoura Lunch

  • Egret foraging

    Kaikoura Egret - Kaikoura

  • This sophisticate prefers the sleek look

    Kaikoura The sophisticate

  • Last chance to forage befire sunset

    Kaikoura Last chance to forage

  • Inspecting the larder

    Kaikoura Inspecting the larder

  • Where is my lunch?

    Kaikoura Looking for service

  • Approaching Kaikoura at Peketa beach.

    Kaikoura Approaching Kaikoura

  • Sleeping in comfort - or sleeping anyway

    Kaikoura Sleeping in comfort

  • Family day at the seaside

    Kaikoura Family day

  • at Queenstown Airport

    Kaikoura The Greeters

  • And as the wind dies the toetoe grasses are still

    Kaikoura And as the wind dies

  • A lawyer thinking upon the brief?

    Kaikoura Lawyer

  • The Seaward Kaikoura Range from Kaikoura peninsula

    Kaikoura The Seaward Kaikoura Range

  • There are plenty of well nourished geese

    Kaikoura Well nourished goose

  • Landing here must be painful on the feet

    Kaikoura Painful on the feet

  • Colour in the rock pool

    Kaikoura Rock pool

We arrived late on a beautiful day and watched the birds and seals at sunset at the end of the Kaikoura peninsula., just outside the town. Next day we went back and spent a long day walking all around the cliffs and bays, practically tripping over dozing seals and chasing after all kinds of birds, trying to photograph them. We scrambled up a steep path that got a bit scary near the top of a cliff. And after all the exercise we lunched by the road, where an enterprising couple had set up a barbeque restaurant with a bunch of folding tables. Very nice crayfish it was too.

Picton

  • Pretty but deserted

    Picton Deserted

  • End of the day at Riverlands

    Picton End of the day

  • Golden glow in the west

    Picton Golden

  • These gum trees don't mind the dry climate

    Picton Gum trees

  • Unbelievably blue in the right light

    Picton Blue blue sea

  • Another view on the back route

    Picton Nearing Picton

  • Highly saline lagoon used for salt production

    Picton Lake Grassmere

  • Hot dry hills beside Lake Grassmere

    Picton Hot dry hills

  • Ours were the only human footprints to be seen

    Picton Footprints

  • Antiques on patrol

    Picton Antiques

  • Approaching Queen Charlotte Sound

    Picton Approaching Queen Charlotte Sound

  • Script by grass

    Picton Grass script

  • This historic cobb cottage looks like it was a pretty place to live

    Picton Historic

  • It is a lonely but restful shore

    Picton Lonely shore

  • Closer to Picton

    Picton Closer to Picton

  • Back crossing Cook Strait

    Picton Cook Strait

  • Cob cottage in Riverlands - near to Blenheim

    Picton Cob cottage

  • About to enter Cook Strait

    Picton About to enter Cook Strait

  • Back route to Picton via the road to Port Underwood

    Picton Back route

  • More footprints - these ones not ours, and tiny

    Picton More footprints

Later we had to move on to get closer to Picton and our ferry. So we went on up the coast, past the deserted beaches and the saltworks at Grassmere, past the restored cob cottage at Blenheim and out to our last DOC campsite on the coast at Rarangi. Then, in the morning, around the back road to Picton, following the coast of Cloudy Bay and Queen Charlotte Sound.

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