Strawberries Galore

When we first moved to Christchurch I planted a few strawberry plants- in pots and in the ground in our backyard. They have grown so well- and multiplied and spread everywhere. This year has been an exceptional year so far- probably cause we've already had quite few hot days. For the last month they've been producing a bowlful of berries every second day.

Routeburn Track

Routeburn Falls

 Looking back at Routeburn Falls huts and valley

 Mount Cook Lily 

These flowers have the amazing ability to collect and store water in puddles in their leaves. They then tip the leaves to feed their roots when it is dry.

 Lake Mackenzie

 On the other side of the Harris saddle (which we crossed over on the second day) the forest gets nearly twice as much rain- and it is obvious by how much moss there is covering everything.

Earland Falls

The Routeburn track is one of New Zealand's Great Walks and it is rated one of the top eleven multi-day walking tracks in the world by National Geographic (2005).  The track crosses over from the Queenstown area to the Milford Sound road. We walked it in 3 days with a couple of friends and did a crossover with two others so that we could swap cars instead of taking a shuttle back.  It certainly has quite amazing scenery- which has been the case for all of the Great Walks we have done so far. The weather was ok- generally overcast with a little bit of drizzle- but we were very happy with that considering on the Milford side they get over 200 days of rain a year! The hut warden at the Lake Mackenzie hut had some pretty interesting stories of people that had walked the track- including a couple guys that did much of it on unicycles (they were world unicycle champions), and a lady from France that carried her Louis Vuitton suitcase the whole way instead of using a backpack (I guess it initially had wheels but they broke. Her hands, naturally, were covered in blisters by the end!) 

Corsair bay

I can't believe I only just discovered this beautiful and calm bay just outside of Christchurch in Lyttelton Harbour! There are few really nice swimming beaches (it's very calm so it would good for actually just swimming) and a really nice walking trail that goes for 8 km (to Governor's Bay).

Murchison

This past weekend was a long weekend in Canterbury, so we headed to Murchison. I did some whitewater kayaking and Brad did some golfing. I also accompanied him fly fishing, and we did a short hike up a hill near the town as well. There are loads of rivers near Murchison, but it turns out that getting to the fly fishing spots is not easy- it involves walking alongside and through rivers- over some rough terrain. And once you finally get there, you have to spot the fish- which is another huge challenge!

ELDP

Since May, Brad has been working part-time for the University of Canterbury. He is the coordinator for the emerging leaders development program.
This website explains it a little bit:
http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/scholarships/program/emerging_leaders.shtml

Beach Season

Well, it is almost beach season again. I say almost because although the air temperature is getting warm the water is still very chilly! (But you get used to it). I went to Waikuku with a couple other people (my favourite beach). The surf was actually good this weekend (which is rare). It made me want to get a surfboard!

Mussels at Otanerito Bay

On Sunday we went and collected some mussels from Otanerito bay near Akaroa. The limit is 50 per person- but it only takes about 10 minutes to get that many!  There are New Zealand Green Lipped mussels (endemic to New Zealand) and Blue mussels. The Green Lipped mussels supposedly taste better, but there are far fewer of them (and the blue and the green all live together). I couldn't personally taste any difference. We steamed them and put a garlic butter sauce on them!

Hinewai Reserve

This past weekend was the long weekend, and I did a whitewater kayaking course. I didn't get any pictures cause the water was high and fast so I was focusing on paddling and not capsizing. I didn't even bother taking a camera.
The weekend before I did a day trip to Hinewai reserve. It is in the Banks Peninsula near Akaroa, about an hour from Christchurch.  It has beautiful native bush, which is a rare find. That bush with yellow flowers is Gorse- and it is very invasive (from the UK) but they are trying hard to keep it out. We had 3 seasons in one day that day- snow in the morning, and sunshine and warmth in the afternoon.
Brad spent both weekends golfing of course!!

Hog's Back Track

Hog's Back Track is a mountain biking track 1 hour away from Christchurch. The track goes up and down across streams and up foothills- with the last half of the track following the top of a long ridge. It's an excellent track that is very well built- but this wasn't the best time of the year to do it. The track was entirely either mud or snow!

Chickens

It's quite popular for people to have chickens in their back yard in New Zealand. Friends of ours have 6 and get lots of eggs. At the Russley golf club where Brad is a member, there are over 30 chickens and 2 roosters. Well, there were- until 2 German Shepherds got into the course. The chickens had formed two groups- each with about 15 chickens and one rooster. One of the groups was almost wiped out completely by the dogs- only the rooster remained (but his tail had been bitten off). A couple days after the incident, the rooster was seen walking into one of the water hazards (which they normally stay away from). He then put his head under the water until he was no longer breathing, and passed away. Poor guy!

Community Gardening at Dovedale

"The concert" is a big event being put on in Christchurch where several bands from New Zealand and one big name band (still unannounced) will play- but the only way to get a ticket is to volunteer 4 hours of your time. Brad coordinated a project for up to 30 people to come to the community garden where he regularly volunteers. It was a big success and over 30 people ended up coming. New beds were dug, a path was made, posts were painted and the whole garden was weeded. A fun day to get people excited about getting together to garden, and volunteering in general (with enough turnips dug up to feed an army!)

Te Kakariki

Hangi

 

A Kakariki is a little green parrot that used to live on the Canterbury plains but is now very endangered because only 1% of the native bush remains. The plains were cleared using fire by the Maori to make it easier to hunt and by the Pakeha (Europeans) for farmland.On Saturday I helped out with a bunch of volunteers to plant native trees and bushes to make a corridor from the mountains to sea, and hopefully bring back some of the native wildlife. The day was sponsored by several groups, including a local Maori tribe, who cooked a "hangi" for us. It's a very efficient way to cook a lot of food at once! The food is put in a pit with hot rocks and buried for several hours until it is cooked.

Rapaki

 Lyttleton harbour side

Christchurch city side

 

Rapaki track is walking/biking track in the Port hills that goes up to a point where you can see Lyttleton harbour on one side and the city of Christchurch on the other side. It was a beautiful spring day- actually quite warm!

Mount Cheeseman

Yesterday we went to Mount Cheeseman- a ski field 1.5 hours from Christchurch. It was a warm, sunny, and clear day! Spring is nearly sprung here- the daffodils are blooming- and there are about 6 or 7 weeks left of the ski season.

Mount Lyford

Mount Lyford is about 2 hours north of Christchurch- it is a privately owned ski field. The road going up was among the worst I've ever seen- very narrow, snaking along the side of the mountain, with jagged rocks everywhere. Like many of the privately owned ski fields, Mt Lyford doesn't have a chairlift- it just has a t-bar, a poma (which is like a t-bar but has a little circular disk instead of a t-bar) and rope tow. Not just any rope tow, but a rope tow that utilizes a New Zealand invention- "the nutcracker". The nutcracker is a story for another day. I didn't have the guts to try it just yet- it looks very difficult and a bit dangerous on a snowboard.
It snowed a lot last week, and there was a base of over 100 cm of snow. Maybe not much for the Canadian Rockies but it is quite good for New Zealand. The ski hill was quiet, and it was a beautiful day!

Little River Rail Trail

On Sunday I biked the Little River Rail trail with a friend. It is a 45 km, flat, well-formed trail where the rail line used to run that starts from Christchurch and ends in the town of Little River. There were lots of sheep and baby lambs along the way (lambing season has just begun). Since it's winter, it's not as green as it would be in the summer- but still quite nice!

Great Ocean Road and Melbourne Area

So many kangaroos on the golf course! Kangaroos are a big bigger and more common than wallabies.

Koalas love to eat Eucalyptus trees- especially Manna Gum. There were dozens of them in certain spots!

These Sandstone stacks are called the 12 Apostles

The forest was actually really similar to NZ- some tree species were even the same (but lots were different)

Platypuses where are you? They are nocturnal so we didn't see any here even though they do live in this lake- but we did get to see some at a wildlife sanctuary

Wild Cockatoos!

This type of Cockatoo is found in the wild too- but not as commonly as the white one

We just got back from a week in Australia. We spent a few days in Melbourne where I had a conference, then took 4 days to drive the Great Ocean Road and see some other sights in the area. Melbourne is a nice city- it's big but it's got great public transport, it's also very diverse and has excellent restaurants. The wilderness outside of Melbourne was stunning. The beaches were beautiful- although it was a little too cold to swim- but the break in the waves was amazing- so perfect! No wonder that area has some of the best surfing in the world! The forests were also really nice- and we saw a lot of wild animals- kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, dingos and so many different kinds of wild parrots. (And we thought New Zealand had nice birds!)