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Happy New Year!

January was our last full month in New Zealand and we had just one more house sit to do after Christchurch before we go to Australia in February.

Before heading to our final sit we still had a few days left to squeeze in some final sightseeing before we leave the South Island.

There have been so many things to see and do in and around Christchurch that we really have only managed to scratch the surface of what this beautiful country has to offer.

The Botanic Gardens

Christchurch botanic gardens were founded in 1863 when a single English oak tree was planted to commemorate the marriage of Prince Albert and Princess Alexandra of Denmark.

The entrance to the botanic gardens is slap bang in the middle of Christchurch city centre so is very easy to find.

The gardens are free to get in and cover a vast area of around 50 acres which means spending a whole day here is very easy to do. We visited three times during our time in Christchurch and still felt that there were areas that we did not explore!

An information centre, gift shop, cafe (that does the best brownies in New Zealand) and regular tram tours around the gardens make the botanic gardens a must-do day out when visiting the garden city of Christchurch.

The Cardboard Cathedral

This was such an interesting place to visit.

When the devastating earthquake hit Christchurch in 2011 the city’s cathedral suffered extensive damage that is still under reconstruction to this day.

For innovation and sustainability, the cardboard cathedral is an incredible achievement.

A Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban, saw the damage caused by the earthquake. He contacted Christchurch and offered to help. His idea was to design a temporary cathedral using shipping containers and compressed cardboard tubing.

He had confidence in his idea having used a similar method to build emergency accommodations following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

The tubes are strengthened inside with locally sourced timber. Then a lightweight roof made of opaque polycarbonate makes the building weatherproof.

Almost everything inside the cathedral is made of cardboard tubing. The end result is an amazing sight to see.

The catherdral was only originally built to provide Christchurch with a catherdral until the original one is rebuilt. However, it has proved to be such a popular tourist attraction that it is likely to be wowing tourists for many years after that.

Christchurch Gondola

When Sheryl, our sitter friend from the UK had come to join us for Christmas day she mentioned that her birthday was coming up in January. We wanted to arrange a day out together for her birthday and a day visiting the Christchurch Gondola (cable car) was the ideal opportunity. (Happy Birthday Sheryl if you are reading this!)

It proved to be a really lovely day out. The gondola took us on a 10-minute, 862-metre ride to the top of Mount Cavendish.

The panoramic views on the journey up were spectacular. Looking over the city of Christchurch, Canterbury Plains, Southern Alps, Banks Peninsula, and the Pacific ocean.

When you reach the top of the gondola ride there is a cafe. After an obligatory coffee and cake, you can then leave the cafe and choose to spend time hiking one of the many walking tracks that lead from the Gondola Summit Station

The tracks are a variety of lengths and suitable for all fitness abilities. With spectacular views guaranteed in every direction.

Akaroa

Akaroa is the Maori word for ‘Long Harbour’. It is the oldest town in Canterbury, founded in 1840 by French settlers. There is still a lot of French influence in the town.

The town is filled with beautiful historic buildings. A mixture of residential, cafes, bars and shops to satisfy the retail cravings of the many tourists that visit this area each year.

The town’s harbour is a popular stop for cruise ships as they navigate around New Zealand. Although quiet the day we went, as it only is a small town I can imagine it getting a bit hectic when a cruise ship arrives,

This is the most French town in New Zealand so don’t be surprised to be greeted by a friendly “Bonjour” or two during your visit. French restaurants and bakeries compete for business with the boutique shops along the high street.

The waters around the harbour are home to rare hector dolphins, little Blue Penguins. and fur seals.

Castle Hill

Whilst heading to the Arthurs Pass national park we came across an area known as Castle Hill. It is a vast expanse of huge boulders, named this, as it is thought they resemble the ruins of a huge castle.

Millions of years ago this area was covered by the sea. When the sea retreated, about 30 million years ago the force of the water had eroded huge areas of limestone into the magnificent boulders of all strange shapes and sizes that we see today.

If you are a film fan and think you recognise this place, you would be right. The area was used as a location during the filming of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe’.

Goodbye to Christchurch – Hello Napier

One night in an Airbnb

Our time on the South Island all too quickly came to an end. It was now time for us to head back to the North Island.

Here we had one more house sit booked. Before that though, we had one night spare so we booked ourselves into an Airbnb for the night.

We took a direct flight from Christchurch to Napier where our Airbnb host was kindly waiting to pick us up. This is the beauty of booking Airbnb rather than hotels. Hosts are often happy to provide extras at little or no extra cost.

This was to be our 22nd Airbnb stay since we started our travelling adventure. We knew that we would be arriving late and leaving early the next morning so just needed somewhere to crash for the night and so went cheap and cheerful.

The Airbnb we had booked was on the large bottom floor of the host’s home. It was clean, and had a private bathroom but a shared kitchen. The cost for the night was just £65. Considering that included an airport pick-up we certainly could not knock the value!

Our final New Zealand House sit

The next morning, the homeowners from our next house sit came to pick us up from our Airbnb. The journey between the two was no more than ten minutes.

This was to be a four-week sit. Here there were no pets to care for. Just the house.

The owners were really lovely. They were due to fly out the next morning so on the evening that we arrived, the sister and her husband of our home host came to join us and introduce themselves. They lived locally and the six of us enjoyed a lovely evening of conversation and a meal kindly cooked by our home hosts.

The home hosts left for their holiday very early the following day. They had kindly left us their car to use during our stay so we set off to explore the city of Napier.

Napier

Napier is a coastal city on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated in Hawke’s Bay region.

In February 1931, A huge earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale all but destroyed the city. The devastation was huge and the impact was so big that the whole area was lifted by almost 3 meters above sea level. What was the sea before was now land.

Work commenced rebuilding the city. Ironically, for a variety of reasons, the earthquake eventually led to a new Napier being built that was to be a huge improvement on the original city.

Firstly, as the sea level rose, new land was created making extra land space available for farms, industry, housing and an Airport to be built.

Secondly, The rising sea level also meant that Napier was now an ideal location for a port, which eventually resulted in it becoming the leading town of the region.

Many years later, the city was to become a hot spot for tourists brought in by the huge cruise ships that could now easily navigate the deep waters.

Thirdly, and probably most important was the date of the earthquake, 1931.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Art Deco style was all the rage. This meant that when the new Napier was built, the buildings were heavily influenced by this style.

It was not considered at the time, but years later, this was to become the city’s unique selling point.

Today, almost a century later, tourists from all over the world flock to Napier in their thousands to admire this wonderfully unique city that is now often described as the Art Deco capital of the world. 

It is not all good news though. The rising of the sea level meant that the depth of the sea right on the coast plus the strong currents that now occur in this region because of the depth of the water makes the sea beautiful to look at, but extremely dangerous to swim in. No one goes into the sea here!

The month ahead

We have only been in Napier for a short while but love it already and are looking forward to spending the next month exploring the area.

With a car at our disposal and no pets to care for, we also hope to be able to get out and see a bit more of the North Island before our New Zealand adventure sadly comes to an end.

I will let you know how we go on next month. Plus, next month we leave New Zealand and head to Australia. It’s going to be a busy month!

Until then, as always thanks for reading

Hugs, Colin & Karyo xx