New Zealand (1)

We travelled to New Zealand by a two-stage journey from Adelaide, changing at Melbourne. The second stage of the journey was very delayed because of problems with the computerised booking system and because the hold eventually had one too many pieces of baggage, causing the whole lot to be unloaded and checked before the offending item was found. As a result, we arrived in NZ at about 1.30 am. To our surprise and relief, all the immigration, customs, biosecurity and even car hire staff were in place and we sailed through the lot in only 20 minutes. We stayed in Christchurch with our old friends the Shaws, who are still in the same house, just opposite to the house where we lived in 1975. (The latter has been demolished and rebuilt, by the way, so little opportunity for indulging nostalgia there.)

Robin and Peter seem well and essentially unchanged. I gave a seminar at the Canterbury department and also caught up with a number of old, and now retired, colleagues.

We headed off to the suburb of Cashmere, in the Port Hills, to see Brian and Joan Earl. the view over the city of Christchurch, the Canterbury plains and to the southern Alps from here is spectacular.

They, again, are looking well and essentially unchanged. We also went to see Miles Kennedy, the professor in my time, together with Arthur Williamson, another retired professor, and their wives. All, again, are well and prospering.

We also indulged in a bit of nostalgia by driving to Akaroa, on the south of the Banks peninsula, which is as attractive as ever.

We aslo walked through central Christchurch, seeing various remembered items like the giant chess game in the Cathedral Square,

the Town Hall building where Liz used to sing with the Christchurch Choral Society (yes, they were having a piping and highland dancing competition at the time!)

The River Avon (complete with punters)

Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens, and many other scenes.

It has to be said that, after Adelaide, and even in the New Zealand summer, we found NZ bone-chillingly cold. Just as well we had this partial re-acclimatisation before our return to the wintry UK.

We started a tour of the South Island by taking the inland route to Queenstown, past Lake Tekapo, (above) lake Pukaki and the Lindis pass (below), where we were impressed by the lupins that were growing in profusion on the road verge- presumably deliberately planted.

and on to Queenstown, where the Shaws had very kindly made their holiday home in Kelvin Heights available to us.

This had spectacular views along Lake Wakatipu on both sides. Mount Earnslaw can just be seen in the distance below. The hills on the left are Walter and Cecil Peaks, where we once visited a sheep station.

Next posting- continuation of the South Island tour, together with some unseasonally bad weather.