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This month’s journal is a little different than the usual from me. Its more of a photo-blog of my recent trip to Canterbury (New Zealand’s, not England’s).

December was seriously busy this year. In part because of the trip. But it was also a hell of a lot of fun so who am I to complain!

So: Part 1 of....

To CHCH and Beyond!

Prologue: I have a cunning plan!

Captain's Log, stardate 23.9, rounded off to the... nearest decimal point. We've... travelled back in time to save an ancient species from... total annihilation...........
...Okay: Ace Ventura/Captain Kirk flashback. I’ll try not to let it happen again.
But it’s ironic as the final episode of Star Trek aired on 3rd June 1969: The same year my father was transferred to Wigram Air Force Base (just outside of Christchurch).
For the next 2 ½ years we lived in an Air Force community at Weedons.

I had been planning a return visit to Christchurch a couple of years ago to revisit the old neighbourhood but timing and funds didn’t come together. This year I decided: fcuk it! I’m not getting any younger; asked my sister Shells to go with (she’s the driver in the family, among many other factors...) and [we] booked the trip.
When I was there (last century) I don’t remember going to Christchurch more than twice. We climbed to the top of the steeple of the Cathedral (Something I’m not mad enough to attempt anymore without the aid of a helicopter.) And visited the Avon River (not difficult since its everywhere you bloody turn! – not really but...). That’s it. I can’t remember anything else. Apparently we went to Ashburton but...
So I planned to go see stuff this time.

Day 1: Go to Jail. Go directly to jail...

It was raining in Auckland when we took off on the 19th. It was raining in Christchurch when we landed.
It was dark (9:00 PM approx), it was wet, it was warm. We were both hungry (No real meal before we took off – One of the, many-varied, reasons I asked Shells along was that I was nervous about getting on a plane after so many years [35 approx]. It wasn’t until we were actually taking off that I discovered that Shells was more nervous than I was but what the hey!
Thank god for Dominos Pizza! It was just down the road from where we were staying that first night (A converted jail).



Day 2: Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you…

The 20th dawned warm and wet. Intermittent rain, lots of cloud, you know the drill. We didn’t care!

First stop was Cathedral Square: If you’ve never been to Christchurch you gotta go there at least. It’s the number one tourist stop for.... Okay! I’m not writing it every time! The abbreviation is CHCH so...
The trams run around Cathedral Square and do a circuit around the central business district.



There’s a saying: The only hills in CHCH are man-made. They’re not kidding! Canterbury is flat: So flat Captain Cook mistook Banks Peninsula for an Island. The only real variances are man-made and where the rivers that created the place cut through it. So don’t expect the trams to go racing down steep slopes like they can do in San Francisco. It’s sedate: That’s what it is.

The Cathedral is the main draw-card for the centre of CHCH though (mostly).
The roof is actually designed like the keel of a ship (bow, stern and ribbing included). Shells pointed that out to me just as we were leaving or I would have got a shot to show you (honest!).



The central image of the Rose Window is a lamb (as representative of Jesus).

Shells also wanted to check out the Basilica (as she called it – It’s actually the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was part of or adjacent to the Catholic Cathedral School.)
One of several cool things my sister knew about and which added a hell of a lot to our trip.



We took exteriors of the two cathedrals but not many. I figured the weather would clear up by the time we came back (That’s one thing about the trip that pleased me. Optimism – It was raining: We didn’t care. There was no doubt in my mind that it would clear up soon.

Another reason I wanted my sister along on this trip: We share a love of photography. We basically did nothing but take photographs for 5 days and it was great!

Our next stop was Banks Peninsula:

Excerpt from the Encyclopaedia of NZ (1966):
Banks Peninsula is situated in about the middle of the east coast of the South Island on the margin of the Canterbury Plains. It is approximately 450 sq. miles in area and its highest point is Herbert Peak, 3,014 ft. It comprises two extinct volcanoes which were active less than half a million years ago. Their craters have subsequently been enlarged to many times their original size by stream erosion; they were then invaded by the sea during the postglacial world-wide rise in sea level beginning about 15,000 years ago. They now form the harbours of Lyttelton and Akaroa. Originally Banks Peninsula was an island, but it became tied to the Canterbury Plains at some late stage in geological history when the growing alluvial plain reached its base.
Basically: Cook was right, but a few million years late....

Lyttleton Harbour is the older of the two volcanoes



The lump of land in the middle of the harbour is Quail Island and (apart from being where they used to keep their lepers [seriously] it’s estimated to be where the original vent was)

Another of my sister’s interesting little titbits was the Time Ball Station.

In the days of sailing ships and quirky navigation made more difficult by the irregular time-pieces of the day corrections were issued by the time-ball. The ball was raised on its staff and then dropped at 12 noon GMT. The Captain would keep an eye on the ball and check his ship’s chronometer against it as it dropped. (Cannon were no good as the sound took time to travel.)
Lyttleton boasts the only remaining Time Ball Station in New Zealand (and one of the few still working in the world). And we arrived (without planning to) 30 minutes or so before it dropped. This image is from the roof of the main tower and shows the ball dropping.



From there it was over the Peninsula to Akaroa: The first and only French settlement in New Zealand. Apparently some French dude bought the Peninsula off the local Maori and sailed back to France and formed the ‘Let’s all settle in Akaroa because its really cool’ society. When he got back with his first load of colonists he found the Maori had signed the ‘Treaty of Waitangi and the whole place was under British sovereignty. They decided to stay anyway (with the sea voyages of the day being what they were I wouldn’t have wanted to repeat it that soon either!) and the rest is history.

Weird NZ factoid that bares absolutely no relation to the rest of the journal whatsoever: 90 Mile Beach, In the Far North of the North Island, isn’t 90 miles long. It wasn’t until the maps were drawn up that they realised the surveyor they’d sent to draw the area had measured it in kilometers, not miles. A transparent ploy by the French to get back at us for Akaroa I think....

Anyway: Akaroa is the younger of the two volcanoes



The little piece of land sticking out into the harbour is Onewa Peninsula and is thought to be where the original vent was located.

We found we were expected where we were booked so that worked out okay and, as one does when you visit a seaside community, we hunted for and found the local fish and chip shop. Excellent fish and chips too!

...To be continued....

(Part 2: [link])

*****

Shoots for the month (yes I did manage to get a couple in):

The seriously cool Kim:



And the exceptionally hot Stevie:



My s for December: