South Island, New Zealand – 2011

This page is an index page for the holiday we spent in New Zealand over the period 28th January to 12th February. The individual pages may get modified and additions made as I sift through the memorabilia (ie bits of paper) that I brought back with me. At least they’re now in a state to view.

29th January – Christchurch to Mount Cook – a journey west from Christchurch to Darfield and then following the scenic route to Geraldine and Lake Tekapo
30th January – Mount Cook to Dunedin – taking in Twizel, Maerewhenua, Oamaru and Moeraki
31st January – Dunedin to Kaka Point via the Otago Peninsula – with Baldwin Street, railway buildings and penguins mixed in together
1st February – Through The Catlins to Invercargill – wildlife, blowholes, rivers, waterfalls and woods
2nd February – From Invercargill to Te Anau – seascapes, sheep farms, bridges and lakes
3rd – 4th February – To Doubtful Sound … and back – a boat, coach and boat trip to an area impossible to reach by road
5th February – To Milford Sound and Knobs Flat – high mountain tunnels, rainforest and rain, fiords and a boat trip
6th February – From Knobs Flat to Queenstown – to the “adventure capital of the world”
7th February – To Glenorchy … and back – a step back in time, a glorious garden and a lovely lake
8th February – From Queenstown to Franz Josef Glacier Village – through the Haast Pass – in the rain
9th February – Franz Josef Glacier & Hokitika – mountain and glacier scenery to die for
10th February – From Hokitika back to Christchurch – what a pleasant surprise, the cultural capital of the west coast
11th February – Christchurch – 10 days before the earthquake, a sunny day in the park and a visit to the cathedral

An album giving the highlights of the trip can be seen on Google Photos.

The road map of our trip.

View New Zealand 2011 in a larger map with distances of the various legs

Christchurch

We spent our last full day in New Zealand walking around Christchurch. This was Christchurch a week before the major earthquake that hit on 22nd February, 10 days after we left. The quake itself was not as severe as one that had hit the city the previous year in September, and they’d had another one on Boxing Day 2010 as well.

I think as you look through these pictures, the poignant ones are of the cathedral and the flower festival that had only just begun on the day we visited. It’ll be a long time before a similar event will be held there.

We liked the Botanical Gardens a lot, wonderful to stroll through them and enjoy an early autumnal day. We popped into an exhibition of Sir Walter Scott’s fateful polar expedition that had left from Christchurch 100 years before.

You can also see the photos here, rather than as a slideshow.