Taylor's Mistake - Te Onepoto

Saturday we drove over to Taylor's Mistake, which is a beach on the far side of Sumner, South East of Christchurch. Lots of nice surf, sheep, and grass! Again, beautiful scenery!

Kaikoura!

Last weekend we drove up to Kaikoura, about 2.5 hours North of here.
According to wikipedia:
"The Kaikoura Peninsula extends into the sea south of the town, and the resulting upwelling currents bring an abundance of marine life from the depths of the nearby Hikurangi Trench. The town owes its origin to this effect, since it developed as a centre for the whaling industry. The name 'Kaikoura' translates to 'meal of crayfish' ('kai'- food/meal, 'koura' - crayfish) and the crayfish industry still plays a role in the economy of the region. However Kaikoura has now become a popular tourist destination, mainly for whale watching (the Sperm Whale watching is perhaps the best and most developed in the world) and swimming with or near dolphins. There is also a large and readily observed colony of Southern Fur Seals at the eastern edge of the town. At low tide, better viewing of the seals can be had as the ocean gives way to a rocky base which is easily navigable by foot for quite some distance.

It is also one of the best reasonably accessible places in the world to see open ocean seabirds such as albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, including the Hutton's shearwater which nests high in Kaikoura's mountains."

We didn't pay to go on a whale watching or dolphin swimming tour - They cost a pretty penny, and Aya gets very sea sick. Since we had already cleaned up after poor Rowan on the way up (windy roads and a motion sick child do not mix!) we opted to just go see the seals along the shore. As you can see you can get very close and watch them laze about. Very Cool! Apparently the seals were over-hunted at one point. Then they built the parking lot for the viewing area. As the seal population recovered, they took over the parking lot as their resting spot! We didn't eat crayfish. We wanted to, but at $50 each, it seemed a bit much! But we did enjoy the amazing views and everyone had a great day!

May 14, 2010

Hello from NZ!

My injured neck continues to improve. I STILL can't lie down for any period of time, though, without my right arm starting to tingle and ache ('referred pain' from the nerve being pinched in my neck). I'm more-or-less pain free, though, which is nice. Still can't move faster than a quick walk, though, which is a bit frustrating, and still can't work at a computer for too long.

The weather here has been amazing! It was really warm yesterday outside; it felt like summer. Apparently, this is a realllly long autumn, and not typical of the Christchurch autumn. We're hoping that this weather lasts right through winter.

I'm working in the library these days. I'm trying to get some data analysis done, so I can get some of the data from my post-doc work published. It's pretty interesting stuff, so it's easy to stay motivated. Hopefully it'll get done soon, but it's hard to work long at my computer before my neck/back/arm start to get sore.

Lately, we've been missing going out for breakfast here in NZ. There are breakfast-type places here, but going out to break the fast seems to be a bit of a special occasion (like brunch in Canada), and as such, it's fairly expensive (about $15 for bacon / eggs / toast). So we just eat at home. Such a shame. Not being able to eat out for breakfast makes us miss our "best breakfast friends" in Canada (1. Steve, 2. The Gagnons, 3. Laurie and Conan). All three of these groups of people are especially entertaining (and generally educational) over breakfast. *sigh* I miss medium basted eggs, bacon, brown toast, and endless cups of weak coffee.

We've been thinking about where we should visit next in NZ. My vote is Kaikoura, so we can see seals, and eat crayfish (which, in NZ, refers not to what we would call crayfish in Canada, but rather to a large lobster-like creature without the giant claws).

I'll keep you posted!

Trent.

Akaroa

Last weekend we went to Akaroa, which has the distinguishing characteristic of being NZ's only French settlement. The street names are in French, and you can buy croissants, but that seems to be the main legacy of french colonisation. It is ~80k from Christchurch, along a windy and hilly road...poor Rowan was green around the gills on the way there, so we gave him Gravol and he slept the whole way home. The town seems to mainly consist of cafes, galleries, jade shops, and backpacker hostels. Still, it was nice to get out and see it - the harbour is much more protected than Littleton or New Brighton, so it will be a great place to swim in the summer (or winter if you are like Aya...). So, here are photos of Akaroa, the collection Aya made at the beach, a very wet Aya "swimming", and Trent and Rowan. Rowan is very into matching Trent these days, and is tickled pink if he can wear the same colour shirt and pants (which is easy since Trent likes a very child-like colour palette).

Rowan's pick

Rowan's pick was to go to the beach at New Brighton - he loves climbing in the sand dunes. I like them too because they are covered with ice plant to prevent erosion. So here we are at New Brighton, and a very sleepy Rowan with his mouse afterwards.

Willowbank nature reserve

Since Aya loves the eels, we went to Willowbank nature reserve last weekend. We fed the eels (of course) and Aya had saved up enough money to ride the donkey. It was a little tame for her, but she liked it anyway. So here are photos of a wallaby (endemic to Australia, but introduced to the wild in some parts of NZ), the eels, Asian otters and Aya riding a donkey.