Christmas in New Zealand

Dec. 21st was the official first day of summer here and as if on cue, the morning began with bright sunshine and a very warm breeze. Sunscreen is an absolute must because you will burn more easily in NZ than anywhere else. There are 3 reasons why the sun is so strong in the southern hemisphere. #1- There is less ozone to block the UV rays. #2- The earth's orbit takes it closer to the sun during the southern summer. #3- There is less pollution to block the UV rays. So we lathered on the sunscreen, grabbed our hats and sunglasses and loaded up the car with our chilly bin, gifts and food. We were off to join the Scanlons at their Lansdowne farm, just south of Kaikora. The drive from Christchurch takes 2.5 hours. Along the way, you pass through the famous wine country of Canterbury called Waipara. You may have heard us mention Lansdowne before because it is our favorite place in all of New Zealand. Nearly 1,800 acres of hills, valleys, rivers, beach and snowcapped mountains. Truly a paradise! There were seven of us gathered together for the Christmas holiday- John and I, Jay and his two children, Maris and Francis and his girlfriend, Vanessa and her mother, Maha. Fran & Vanessa live in Los Angelos while Maha is from Barbados. After settling in to our respective cabins, we all climbed aboard the farmbikes (called ATV's in the States) and headed down to the beach. It's a no swim beach because of the rough surf but that didn't stop Jay and Fran from taking a quick dip. John preferred to swim in the Conway River which flows directly into the ocean. We enjoyed a lovely picnic on the deserted beach, reading, painting and otherwise relaxing. That evening we laid a large canvas down on the lawn and the 7 of us laid there admiring the night sky. There is no interference from any lights so the sky is filled to capacity with constellations, galaxies, satellites and shooting stars. I never tire of looking at the Southern Cross. As we laid there in the warm, still night air, a Ruru (also called a Morepork, the small native owl)hooted to us from the valley below. It was magical. The next day, John's birthday, we again went down to the beach to play. We also explored the valley, picked watercress from the creek, and smoked a whole salmon in Jay's new electric smoker- John was in heaven! The following day we all headed up into the hills to a meadow filled with clover and dandelions. After several attempts, we managed to get our 2 kites up, up, up into the warm thermal currents. It was such fun! And sipping wine was nice too. Later that night, we had a large bonfire down on the beach. Every day pretty much went like this. Fran and Vanessa had bought cute, funny pajamas for everyone so on Christmas Eve, we dressed in them and opened our stockings. Such great fun with gifts like pickle floss, cactus jelly, bacon flavored mints and a magic eight ball (did we have fun? "It is decidedly so" said the 8 ball!)I'm leaving out all the good food we had (breakfast, lunch and dinner)just because that's another blog all in it's own right. Suffice it to say, we all gained weight!) Christmas day was beautiful and we shared the traditional turkey dinner with Lansdowne's caretaker, Wayne and his dog, Gizmo. For John and I, being so very far from home was not so painful because we were surrounded by such good and loving people. Plus home is just a phone call away and hearing from my Mother and our son was the greatest gift. We were also blessed to have missed the 5.9 earthquake which struck Christchurch on Dec.22nd. We hope all of you had an equally memorable holiday season. Cheers and God Bless!

Tramping in the Port Hills

The weather has finally turned hot here, with most days being in the low 80's. We decided to spend this past Sunday tramping through the Port Hills. Dominating the southern skyline above Christchurch, the Port Hills are the outer rim of the ancient Lyttelton volcano. At its most active, about 12 million years ago, the volcano may have been 4 times the height of the Port Hills. Today, the Lyttelton and Akaroa volcanoes are amongst the world's best examples of erosion craters. These craters were eventually breached by the sea to form the two main harbours of Lyttelton and Akaroa.
At the time of settlement in the 1850's, the hills were a daunting barrier. As the city of Christchurch grew, the hills were exploited- first for timber and then for farming. It was not until the twentieth century that concerns were raised about the disappearance of native forests and the protection of the Port Hills. A man named Harry Ell was largely responsible for the network of bush reserves and walking tracks on the hills. He persuaded local landowners to "gift" remnants of bush and he raised funds to purchase more land. Christchurch born and bred, Harry Ell was a pioneer conservationist. At the time, few others appreciated the Port Hills as a city asset. During the 1930's depression about 1,000 men on relief worked on Harry's vision of a scenic road connecting Lyttelton to Akaroa- the path became the Summit Road. The men were called Ells Angels.
Harry's dream included 15 rest houses,to be used by trampers to provide rest and respite but only 4 were built. The rest houses were constructed of locally quarried volcanic rock to blend into the natural landscape. The first, the Sign of the Bellbird, was built in 1914. It was followed in 1916 by the Sign of the Kiwi and the Sign of the Packhorse. The Bellbird and Kiwi were both tearooms with resident caretakers. The Packhorse, a three roomed hut, served as a basic overnight shelter for trampers. In 1918, Ell began building the 4th and most ambitious of his rest houses- the Sign of the Takahe, a midieval mansion with many Gothic features.
On Sunday, we set out in search of The Sign of the Packhorse. We had already been to the other three Signs, two of which (the Kiwi and Takahe) were damaged by the Feb. 2011 earthquake and are currently not open to the public. We drove to Kaituna Valley and parked the car at a designated DOC (Dept.of Conservation)area. Smack dab in the middle of a working sheep farm, we arrived just in time to watch the farmer and 4 of his dogs muster up a huge mob of sheep and move them into the paddock where we would begin our hike. It's fascinating watching the dogs work those sheep. With chilly bin in hand, we headed up into the Hills. A sign pointing the way said simply, "Track". We walked for a while until we discovered that there was no longer a path. Well, there were lots of sheep trails plus the wooly buggers that made them, but no real human trail to follow. We decided to sit in the shade of a manuka tree, drink our water and eat a sammie (sandwich). We decided to keep walking, ridge over ridge, until finally, with no idea of what direction the Packhorse was in and afraid we wouldn't find our way back to the car, we gave up and turned back. We're not sure where we went wrong. Perhaps we missed the trail markers (unlikely as we have the eyes of a hawk) or perhaps the markers were removed (by some rogue local who doesn't want Yanks wandering his hillsides). In any case, we will do some research and give it another go. Anyone have a GPS we could borrow?