Day Three: Tuesday-- Arthur's Pass

This was another early start day where we had to walk about 10 minutes down to a pickup point (only to drive right pass our hotel as we headed to our first venue--the train.)  Our tour for the day took us up to Arthur's Pass by train and then we had lunch and then took a van tour back down to Christchurch.  This was the first of three train rides planned for our trip (when you love trains that is the geeky thing you do on vacations when you can.) It was another excellent tour and we heard and read and learn so many new things.  Not that I can recall them all (for which I am sure you are grateful.)  However, it is just exciting to learn about new places and things.)

Standing in the look out car, I thought'
we needed a picture of the Halls containers
as we passed by

A reminder in the open air car....

You get pretty wind blown in the open air car....Gary doesn't have that problem.

The Canterbury plains where crops, cattle, sheep, and deer are raised.  This is the largest flat area of all of New Zealand--not surprising when your islands are built from volcanos and right on the fault lines between the Australian and Pacific plates. 

And yes, deer farms...more on that story later.

Views from the train...we were on the mountain side so our neighbors ended up in many of our photos of the views to the downhill side...

There were a number of tunnels along the way as well.

Not the best photo, but you can see the shadow of the trestle we were on.

After passing through the plains, we entered into the mountain areas which brought us to the higher plains used mostly for sheep and cattle grazing.  At some point, I heard someone say in the back of our train car: "I would think I was on a road trip through Utah."  It did look exactly like that.

We got off at Arthurs Pass which is 737 meters above sea level. (2417 feet for us Americans.)

This is the road which continues through the mountains to the west coast of the South Island.

There was some waterfalls along this viaduct as well.

We were hoping to see some kea but no luck on this trip, although we heard them talking up in the hills.  They have an interesting habit--they love the taste of rubber and will chew rubber off of cars anytime they get a chance.  Edgings and window washer blades are favored targets although they will try tires if they need to.  And they aren't too afraid of humans.

We took a small hike to a view area for another water fall. It was very beautiful and peaceful with the sounds of nature and water flowing.

Like in the beach, rocks are in abundance in the area.  These mountains are volcanic in nature and rocks abound throughout the landscapes and come rushing down the rivers every spring.

In town after lunch, we walked down to a small Chapel which is famous for its view behind its pulpit. It has a waterfall. 

Not quite as impressive as the Jerusalem Center, but beautiful nonetheless.

As we headed back to Christchurch, we stopped at this site which was where one of the battles in the Lord of the Rings was fought. The guide showed us a brief clip and it was fun to see the background as we stood in the area.

Due to the way that the islands were formed and the fact that they were underwater for thousands of years (who actually knows how long), big rocks were just left in all sorts of places and you can see how they have rolled down the hill as they broke into smaller pieces.

We took another hike in an area known for its large rock formations.  It was amazing to see.  It reminded me a bit of Craters of the Moon in Idaho.

Some later fall wildflowers

It is quite common to see pictures reminded people to not squat on the toilet seat.  Many Eastern Asian countries prefer that method. 

Why I took a picture of this particular sign was because of what was below that--Please flush toilet paper down the toilet.  This was actually just a typical open pit toilet---no flushing involved! And there also were no garbage cans as an alternative either.

Just as we were leaving the rock hike area, we heard dogs barking and were able to briefly watch a man on a horse with his dogs herding these sheep together and heading up the hill.  That is the down side of being on a tour.  If Gary and I had been in a car, I would have asked him to pull over so we could watch the process longer.  These sheep clearly were not ones that follow "the voice of their good shepherd."  The dogs were clearly in charge to move them together and up the hill.

As we approached Christchurch, we drove through the town of Springfield, New Zealand.  Apparently, due to the fact that they shared the name with the Springfield of "The Simpsons" fame...the city was gifted this donut in 2007 to promote The Simpson Movie.  The original was destroyed by arson in 2009, but a concrete one was created in 2012 and has become a "quirky" landmark in this town who likes to be thought of as a fun, quirky place to visit (according to Google.)

Another great day, more views of this pretty and friendly country.  We had Thai food again at the place around the corner from the hotel and were in bed by 9:30 again after getting our stuff packed up.  Another early morning tomorrow.....

Day Two: Monday--Kaikoura

A storm moved into Christchurch on Sunday night and Monday it was still raining and the skies were very grey.  Our plan was to head up the coast to the town of Kaikoura and catch a boat for a whale watching tour.  Even as the guide picked us up, he let us know that there was uncertainty about the boats going out into the ocean as the storm was still pounding that area of the coast. And as it turned out, the whale watching trip was cancelled (which is very sad, since I love whale watching.) but our guide was able to get us on a dolphin watching tour which took smaller boats and stayed much closer to the shore than the usual route for whale watching.  Despite that and the off and on rain, it was a good day and we did get to see dusky dolphins who live in the area.

And of course, I took photos--

In the neighborhoods in Christchurch, most of the houses had front fences with hedges, wood, brick, or other materials.

Our grey skies as we headed through the countryside heading northeast....

Lots of rivers along the way

They roll their hay bales here as well, but then they frequently "shrink-wrapped them" in white bags as they left them in the fields.

A picture perfect photo of the river and the small mountain range we were going to cross over

So, I bought postcards and stamps for the grandkids and Jena and Ben.  However, when I asked the hotel clerk to mail them, she refused saying that they couldn't take mail. The tour guide who had just come into the lobby to pick us up couldn't believe it.  He even talked about it on the way home that evening.  Such poor customer service... Fortunately, we found this mail box in a small town where we took a brief rest stop. New Zealand doesn't have a national postal service so there are a couple of different companies providing mail boxes and services.  Jena and Ben got their postcard I mailed on this day last Friday (2 1/2 weeks later).  I don't know if any of the cards have reached the grandchildren yet.

Options for chips....

The Pacific Ocean.  It was a beautiful drive north along the coast line...

...and several tunnels as well.

The rain had stopped at this point and it looked clear to the north so we were still hopeful for the whale watching trip.

In Kaikoura, we had lunch at a local restaurant, so I chose the traditional fish and chips and Gary had the Seafood Chowder (good choice for a rainy day.) It is pretty special to sit in a local place eating seafood on the coast.

The rain stopped for awhile, just in time for a walk to the local beach.

Yes, we are in the "other part of the world" which uses km.  It was a very short walk.

A moored sailing boat in the bay.

This was the beach sand......small and big pebbles.  The beach was filled with them, mostly rounded by the constant beating of the waves.  It made the most interesting sounds as well as you could hear the rocks bouncing against each other in the waves.  I tried to record it but it doesn't really capture the sound of it.  Not the most comfortable to walk barefoot (so we didn't) but an interesting thing to see and hear.

And here we are with the bay of the Pacific Ocean (sometimes called the South Pacific Ocean) at our back...and I did touch the water.

They had an interesting clock tower on the street by the beach.  It was three sided representing the past, present and the future.

present

future

This was a place to stand while waiting for buses or taxis.  Notice that they took advantage of the rock supply to fill the end posts.

As I mentioned, we got reassigned to the Dolphin Encounter because of the rough seas.  One person on our tour had signed up for this tour which for her including the chance to swim with wild dolphins.  We got the last 6 seats (the rest of our tour) as dolphin watchers.

A view out to the ocean.

And off we go on our small boat.  I think there were about 16 swimmers and 14 watchers on our tour, plus the guides and drivers.

And the dusky dolphins are sighted.....of course, it is easier catching the splash than the actual jump of the dolphins. Dusky dolphins are found in the southern hemisphere, in New Zealand as well as southern parts of South America and Africa.  They are smaller than the dolphins you might see off of California coasts.  They are known for their jumping and twisting tricks and we definitely saw that.

So, after we got close to the pod of dolphins the swimmers slid off the back of the boat and headed off to swim with them.  The first group of dolphins were not very social and the whole pod headed away.  They would call the swimmers back in and head after them to repeat the same thing two more times. 

Finally our captain decided that these dolphins were not interested in people today, so he headed down to another cove to look for a different group.  We found a large group and the swimmers went into the water again.  They swam towards the pod as a group and then the whole group of dolphins turned and swam through and around the swimmers.  It was so amazing.  It was so fun to see the reactions of the swimmers who we didn't even know, but we were routing for them.  It probably lasted only a few minutes with the swimmers and the dolphins swimming together, but it was great fun.

On our way back we came upon a huge pod of the dolphins.  Our guides were guessing over 300 swimming all around our boat and going along with us.  It was another magical moment.

There is also a fur seal colony in a preserve along our route so we stopped on our way back to Christchurch.

Our guide pointed out some wild goats on the mountains west of the coast.

When you are on a vacation built for two, you take more selfies than normal.

Afternoon is nap time as they usually feed in the evening.  Along the east coast of New Zealand runs a deep canal in the ocean which is why lots of whales traveling along this eastern coast.  Many fish, seals and dolphins feed along this deep area as well.  It has a name but I can't remember what it is and couldn't find it in a quick search.

One of my first attempts to get photos of the sheep in the fields...Afterall, that is one of the things that New Zealand is known for.  At one point, there were 70 million sheep in New Zealand (I think in the 1970s) as opposed to 23.5 million now.  It is the first time that the ratio of sheep to people has dropped under 5:1 since records were kept in the mid-1800. It is really not profitable to have sheep any more.  The best farmers can do is break even since the development of nylon and other synthetic fibers has dropped the value and demand for wool.

Despite not seeing whales, it was a fun day.  Our guide, Scotty, was excellent, and shared fun things about the country, the land and things we were seeing, and other fun facts.

Some last pictures from the dolphin encounter.....

the swimmers with the dolphins

My best leaping photo....

And I SAW AN ALBATROSS---trust me that white bird flying right in the center of the photo between the water and the shoreline is an actual albatross.  We saw a few of them floating in the water and taking off into flight.  It was amazing.  Unlike water buffalos which I knew I would see some day, I didn't think I would ever see an albatross but they are seriously cool birds which I have always been in awe of and here they were.  A definite National Geographic moment without their camera. :)  Nature is amazing.