Culminating Day in Beautiful New Zealand

Dec. 29

John's last day on his self-drive trip was truly incredible. Despite his unhappiness with the motel owner, he set out at 8am looking for breakfast and Internet access. That meant he had to take me along!

We went to the buffet restaurant where he went the night before. It had a full breakfast for $17. He had Weetbix cereal, tea, a lamb sausage, back bacon, sunny side up eggs, hash browns and roast potatoes. He also had two glasses of sweet blackcurrent juice.

Then he set off to do his email. The Starbucks offered it for $3 an hour so he bought an hour. You don't need to buy a drink so in effect it was cheaper than getting the Internet for free but having to spend $4 plus on a cappucino, thought John.

At a little after 10 am he was finished and, putting me on his back, we went to the Curator's House restaurant to meet Peter. John was there at 10:25 and a minute later up came Peter. John put me in the trunk of Peter's car and they went and parked in the botanical gardens parking lot.

They went for a walk and saw a lot of wonderful flowers but John had forgotten the videocamera. That was ok, he was more interested in talking to and catching up with Peter. They talked academic philosophy - Peter is a philosopher - and found that yet again they had much common ground. At one point, John said that he felt validated by Peter's erudition. They agree on so much but Peter has the language to express it - anti globalization, anti corporatization, pro humanity, and in favour of all life on the planet.

They looked for coffee and went back to the Curator's House but were told they couldn't sit outside unless they were staying for lunch so they went to the Arts Centre's patio outside one of the old original buildings of Canterbury University. Peter said how he and his daughter run. He can run for 16k. The day before he had walked up the local mountain (round trip six hours) but it was foggy so he will go again.

After a tour of the new campus of Canterbury U, Peter dropped John off at the motel. Peter was going to pick up his children at the airport. Peter, his wife Linda, and their families are from Auckland and the children, both teenagers, had spent Christmas with their grandparents.

John changed into his shorts and left for the International Antarctic Centre - the base for New Zealand, USA and Italy's Antarctic expeditions. What the hec is Italy doing in the Antarctic? thought John. The Americans feel that they have to be everywhere, of course and New Zealand is only a few thousand miles from Antartica... but Italy???

The Centre was excellent. For the first time John saw little blue penguins. At first he was sad to see the poor little creatures in captivity but talking to their keeper found that they weren't In fact, the keeper said that if they had been captured for display he wouldn't be working there. It turns out that all their penguins have been rescued and are unable to live in the wild. Some have missing feet, or broken wings caused by fishing gear. Yes, those fish and chips may cost more than money.

John also saw and learned a lot about the Antarctic and saw updated photos from Ross Base, the NZ base (painted green to remind the Kiwis of home). However, he decided not to go into the blizzard room where they have a fake blizzard (with a minus 43 wind chill) every 15 minutes. John snickered at the people who went in wanting to know what cold is really like! The blizzard only lasts 3 minutes and before going in they have people put on parkas and boots over their clothes. Some people ran out part way through. hahaha

Next John went for a ride on one of their tracked vehicles for the Antarctic. They only go 15 k/hr but they take you across really rugged ground and up and down hills and into deep pools of water. Everyone had to hold on to the straps above to avoid getting thrown around inside. It was fun. A young couple had just gone on the ride before and the guy was telling us all what was coming next. After the first series of violent jostles he said. "That's just to get you prepared for the real ride!"

After an enjoyable 3 hours John came back to the motel and got ready for the culminating experience of his week - The Maori encounter. A shuttle picked John up and took him and a couple of other families from different motels out to the site, where they handed in their vouchers and waited. John met Trish and Wayne a nice couple from Cairns (in northern Queensland, Australia). She is a history movie aficionado and said that she had been looking for years for a Canadian film, 'Black Robe.' It is the story of the Jesuits among the Hurons. John had seen it but did not know where she could find it.

It is hard to describe the evening except to say that it was an historical reenactment in which we, the tourists, took part. We saw a chief from the north come down to the south and attack a pa (fortified village). We were herded to the centre (for our own safety they said) as the fighting took place all around us. We got to enter storehouses and were told how people lived. Every so often our narrator would stop everything and tell us what was going on and the historical basis. We were taken through the years, through the arrival of the settlers and the growth of NZ, even going on a tram car ride. It truly is a world class experience and, in fact, is the only reenactment of its type in the world. It is also a politically sensitive story of how NZ came into being. Unfortunately John's camera batteries died part way through the experience.



After the reenactment, we were treated to a hangi - a Maori feast. We had traditional Maori bread, fish chowder, lamb, chicken, fish, kumara, potatoes, salad, and coleslaw with custard, steam pudding and pavlova for dessert. John sat beside a large Aussie family from Tasmania, grandparents, parents and children. The son-in-law was Maori himself and had so much personality he kept us in stitches. John also at beside a woman and her grown granddaugher from Coventry in England visiting her son in Christchurch. We all had a great time.

Then it was time to head back, the end of a a fantastic and totally unforgettable week here in the South Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

TRB