Wednesday 17 February 2016

Christchurch, fragile and inspiring to visit

It really is a privilege to walk around the city of Christchurch mid rebuild while still covered in scars of distruction. 
My first visit back was on Saturday, a day before new and significant aftershocks hit. We were lucky enough to have not lost anyone close to us in the quakes but walking around the city certainly felt overwhelming at the magnitude of the loss of lives and livelihoods. 
When I lived in ChCh I struggled to get my bearings when landmarks were in place. Finding what's missing was even harder. The mixture of new, beside condemned but still erect, beside demolished is very strange indeed. In the centre of the city rebirth is evident yet fragmented by what remains. Footpaths are still damaged and closed. Buildings are in varying states of being. 

Our first port of call was Chester St East. Shockingly that rundown former row of old student flats are all rebuilt and looking awesome as part of a heritage project. The same can't be said of its surrounds. The bar I loved across the river in the band rotunda gone (partially wrapped so there is hope). 

En route, we walked through "the" playground. Inspirational in size, scale and function. There were hundreds of people on a warm still Canterbury evening there with water jets to cool kids off. 
Paul Henry you are wrong! This playground forms a new heart to the city. We heard squealing with delight as we walked by. Steve observed many of these kids have only known ChCh post earthquake and how awesome for them to have this amazing asset. 
There are many items to inspire in the ChCh CBD. A plant swap garden and a community garden amongst other community projects. Artwork galore. So much to experience visually. 
Then standing in what was Cashel Mall I wanted to cry. The devastation. So many shops and buildings I loved gone, Ballentines standing almost alone now. Impossible to imagine what it was like for those in the CBD during the major earthquakes. 
Here is our photo essay. The inspiring amongst the rubble. My memories of that ChCh I lived in are still intact but, like most kiwi's I will never forget these earthquake events and the mark they have left. 


















Saturday 13 February 2016

Southern Field Days, Waimumu near Gore

Southern Field days is an impressive event. Large in scale with a spread of vendors beyond farming - jewellery, clothing, furniture, appliances, cars, spa pools - you name it you could buy it here. We noted the foot traffic was nothing like that of Central or the horrendously busy National Field Days. One major bonus was a fantastic article in the news paper on the first day of Field Days so 80% of people opened their stop with "I saw you in the paper today" - priceless! 
With 5 of us on the stall everyone had plenty of time to walk around the event. I loved talking to other vendors of course, Steve wanted to buy every larger machine he saw and dragged me to see lots of cars he also wants to buy, was funny. 
Our stand above and the whole Agriculture hall we were in below. 
I got sick so missed day 2, and am still suffering from the worst head cold ever so poor Steve is having to do all of our driving this end of the trip. 
Food wise Field Days catered really well for me. Lots of coffee vendors, gluten free sausages (yum) for lunch day 1 and this amazing pizza to share day 3. Sounds like Steve returned to the sausage vendor for a spicy non-GF one when I wasn't there too. 
I fell in love with tractor pulling as a sport (no the cops didn't join that) fascinating how much is involved in modifying the tractors, scoping out the track, strategy. 
Steve as I said just liked the tractors and other mysterious machines - we were terrible at figuring out what they do. 
The event was good for Flatpak. We spoke to loads of people and had many enter our win a Flatpak by guessing how many bottles draw. Emily delivered product to Farmlands stores and we got to meet many local companies who are potential distributors as well. 
Sadly she didn't win the young inventors award (judging above) the 9 year old that won invented an rfid system for hunters attached to their scope and clothing to prevent shooting your buddies accidentally - awesome aye. 
Was a great experience. Glad we went. 

Tuesday 9 February 2016

Day 3: Icebreaker land through to dairy country

A shorter drive today to get us to Southland. The wind had dropped in Cromwell and our drive beside Lake Dunstan was quite lovely. 

We stopped in Alexandra for a coffee which was ok and gave me the opportunity to buy some shorts for field days. 

From here turning onto state highway 90 the environment all changed. The road was patchy and rutted - trucks - and the arid merino Icebreaker country quickly turned into lush green dairy farming countryside. The vehicles changed to farm vehicles, milk tankers and trucks. 
Then we struck a remarkable change in weather. Dark clouds followed by rain and gale force winds basically until we got to Invercargil. 
Continuing the theme of giant meals Team Flatpak enjoyed a large lunch at Tuatara Cafe - this is Kryten with corn fritters. Quick shop for supplies and off to find a non-licensing trust pub to taste the locally brewed ale. Below is Mike Riversdale enjoying an Invercargil Brewery pint. 
Eventually we headed to Riverton where we are staying for the next 3 days. It's 1 hours drive to Waimumu but that's what happens when you book your accommodation late. 

Cute cottage with a lovely view but omg it's cold here. Steve and I went round to visit Grandma and found her well with the garden looking quite fantastic - I am always in awe given that antartic southerly. Great to catch up. These pics below are for my children. I note nothing much has changed, the big slide and playground wise. 
We ended our Riverton day with Chinese takeaways from the dairy on our corner. Early night before the first big Field Days day. 

Monday 8 February 2016

Road trip day 2: mid Canterbury to central Otago

We had a leisurely start to the day staying in Ashburton for yummy breakfast at Nosh. If you are ever passing though stop here. Lovely setting, great coffee (supreme) and masses of good food. 

From here we headed inland onto those endless straight Canterbury roads emerging for a 2nd coffee stop in Geraldine. The old timer selling his wooden masterpieces in the street told us they get 18-20 buses a day stopping and the town is now a tourist town. Steve fell in love with John Badcock's art work (no we are not driving back that way to pick up a $4k painting). 

From Geraldine we travelled through the beautiful McKenzie basin. Stunning. Our plan had been to climb Mt John to the observatory but seeing the exotic Forrest was actually pine and the temperature clicking up we elected instead to drive up and walk around the circular walkway. Slightly shocked to find a $5 road user charge - luckily they had eftpos - but Oh My God it's worth every cent. Stunning doesn't describe how fantastic it is to look across the mountain ranges, see the glacial lakes and the basin landscape pitted by ice and age. My phone simply doesn't do justice where Lake Tekapo's colour is concerned. Wow. 

Hot and tired and a tad hungry Steve drove us to Twizel while I tried to snap pics of Aoraki as we drove by. It was 30degrees according to the car outside and a public holiday so quick TripAdvisor search had us sitting in the shade outside Shawty's cafe and bar. Yummy and again massive meal of GF pizza and waffle fries with Hopt soda's. 

Final stretch of the drive took us to Cromwell for the night. Again stunning scenery, Steve commenting we don't come down here enough. We loved the driving experience (rant below) and fantastic roads. 

Cromwell is growing. The wind had picked up so our planned stroll was quite short. Something I have never experienced before was standing in a wicked lake side wind as it whipped throu while the clouds above were stationary. 

Driving wise the roads are superb. No trucks I guess. We were amazed by the number of 4wd's towing caravans or boats back towards ChCh on Waitangi Day (observed) vs not so many camper vans. The traffic was constant in both directions. Lots of cops too. My rant - the Lindus Pass is an awesome road now, all flattened out, great corners, deserves to be driven at speed. The nanny state we live in has the speed limit lowered to 50km! The 4wd behind me and I elected to ignore this once we discovered there were not roadworks just this arbitrary limit. Other frustrations like 70km signs on every bloody corner (discovered 70 means button off slightly, 100 is fine). I guess it's all for tourists. 


Sunday 7 February 2016

Day 1 on the road to Gore

Why Gore? Most people ask when I say we're heading south. Well Waimumu actually the location of southern field days where the Young Enterprise venture Flatpak I became involved with last year will be exhibiting. Three days of small talk with farmers basically. 


We set off on a overcast morning to cross the Cook straight on the Bluebridge ferry. Big tip. There is a movie theatre and if you're not a great sea traveller, like myself, this is a quiet comfortable space to spend the rougher part of the journey. We watched a documentary on Sir Edmund Hilary's Mt Everest climb which was great. 

Still Waitangi Day on the other side of the planet we enjoyed some fun Skype conversations with Don and Sophie while showing them the beautiful sounds. 


With our car full of Flatpak stock we drove south stopping in Blenheim for brunch, saw loads of tourists seal spotting along the Kaikoira coastline - beaut blustery weather when we stopped there. 

We delivered the Flatpaks to Emily's mums house then headed to our first night stop Ashburton. 

Driving wise it was pretty interesting. We passed a burnt out car crime scene in Picton, and later read a body was found. We were detoured off SH1 through inland due to another crash. SH1 in the South Island is like a residential street really. Not very wide and varying surface quality. I couldn't believe how many unsecured rail crossings either - no barrier arms. 


It was dinner time by the time we checked into the Bella Vista Ashburton so we joined the locals in the premier South Island chain Robbies for dinner. Steve's $20 roast of the day was enormous and my steak really good. The many tvs show different sports so we settled into trying to understand Pro Kabaddi - here is a link - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabaddi
Fraught with opportunities for match fixing this sport! Quiet Sunday night watching.