Christchurch Hotels
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The travels continue
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Two weeks before leaving Ettrick, a co-worker invited me to come along a trip to the Catlins. First inhabited by the Maori people in the period 900-1700 AD, the Catlins is an area with a rich history. Captain James Cook sighted the area in 1770, but it was not until the period 1810-1830 that whalers and sealers arrived in the Catlins. The Catlins takes its name from Edward Cattlin, a ship's captain who made a land claim in the district in 1840. We went from Curio Bay up to Nugget Point. The coastline is rugged and beautiful, but not as beautiful as Oregon's coast.
Finally, after 2 months of hard work and little money, I am free again. I feel so relieved and i am so ready to travel again. My co-worker Rod took me to
Mt. Cookwhere we hiked the hooker Valley before he returned back to Roxburgh. I stayed 3 days at Mt. Cook village and was happy as a clam. I love the mountains, that's one place where I feel free and happy. On Monday, I hiked up to the Mueller hut having beautiful blue sky and a warm sun. However, at the hut, the winds started blowing heavily and i was afraid I will be blown away, as it happened with some of the huts. The new Mueller hut is number 5 and it sleeps about 30 people. The cost is 35NZ$. The same day, I hiked up the Red Tarn track and to the ridge line of Mt. Sebastopol. I came down in the dark, the full moon shining on the tramping path. It was magnificent and peaceful. I could have spent the night up on the ridge if it weren't for the strong and cold wind. On Tuesday, I took of for the Ball hut. Ball hut offers a great view of the Tasman Glacier and the Ball Glacier. The area is heavily eroded and it is anticipated that the hut will eventually collapse during the next landslide. I returned around 7PM, walking across the grass flats in the moonlight. A wonderful book to read and learn about the Mt. Cook mountains is Edward Hillary's account "Nothing venture, nothing win". Being here was the best regeneration for my body and soul. In the mountains, I am happy and relaxed, the solitude is marvelous, blue skies, snow covered peaks, the sun creating playful shadows on the mountains, the whimsical and haunting voice of the winds, no people, the curious keas, the crackling noise of breaking ice and the full moon leaving the mountain peaks glowing in magnificent light. Life is beautiful.
Now, I am in Christchurch, staying with servas hosts Margaret and Derek. Derek is a retired former civil engineer and Margaret is a potter. Derek's second name is Gundolf, after one of the Lord of the Rings characters. He looks like Gundolf and acts as a guide for Lord of the Ring tours. During the filming of the movie, Derek and his daughter (who is also a guide) worked as extras in the second film. Derek is very much into "geocaching" which is an "entertaining adventure game for GPS users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a GPS unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. All the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache". We went on our own little geocaching trip on Mt. Gibraltar and Coopers knob above the city of Christchurch. Here, I got introduced to a nasty plant called ongaonga, or nettle tree. I was told that people and animals can die when falling into this bush. The lives and stalks are covered with little spines which release some poisonous substance when touched.
On Friday, I decided to rent a car and in order to practice driving on the left side, Derek and I took the car out for a run into the Canterbury mountains. We went geocaching again and hiked up Mt. Grey, about 900m (3000feet) high. It was so much fun as we found three caches. I think i can get into geocaching. It was a great day, and the driving went well. On Saturday, I will leave for Arthur's Pass and after that I will explore the northern part of the South Island before heading to the North Island. Stay tuned for new adventures. More thumbnails ...
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