Christchurch

Christchurch Art Gallery

Christchurch Arts precinct

In the Christchurch Botanic Gardens

Land of the long white cloud - Part three

Christchurch is delightful - a small city with heaps of character. Yesterday I paid a visit to the Gallery which had an exhibition of Ricky Swallow watercolours, plus an interesting survey of their own collection including many works which have been in storage. There was a Warhol Chairman Mao print, but not nearly as nice as the one I know - Christchurch's has a dark blue face.

There is a tourist tram service which circles the city but I prefer to walk - trams are no novelty to me.

This morning I walked down to the Arts Centre which occupies the old premises of Canterbury University, elegant Victorian neo-Gothic stone buildings. Over the road are the Botanic Gardens and these are spectacular; there are many mature examples of European trees (some are huge) and shrubs as well as an excellent area of New Zealand native vegetation.

Next door is the Museum. There are many old-fashioned exhibits, but over all it's a very interesting collection including some wonderful displays of native birds in great dioramas. It brought back memories of the old Melbourne museum. There is also a rather nice cafe with views over the Botanic Gardens, where I had lunch.

On my way to the Arts Centre this morning I discovered a wonderful bookshop, Scorpio Books, a friendly old-fashioned bookshop with an amazing range of books and a nice laid-back atmosphere. Unfortunately (or fortunately) my bag is already full to bursting so I only bought one book.

Mustn't be late tonight as my flight leaves at 6:30 in the morning; I'll probably have to leave around 5:00. Wish me luck!

PS I'll post some pictures when I get home.

Land of the long white cloud - Part two

After two days of concentrated walking at Te Anau, Sunday was quiet and relaxed. After a late rise we got ourselves organised and set off for St Kilda beach (I kid you not) where A and Billy (the dog) went for a beach walk while T (with O on his back) and I strolled along the park and onto the beach further down - we met the other two on the way back.

After this  exercise we made our way to a great little Chinese restaurant which was strangely empty considering it was New Year. However we heard that the evening was completely booked out. The food was excellent and included a delicious ocean cod (?) with spring onions and ginger, half of which we took away and finished off for dinner.

In the afternoon A and a friend sang through some duets with me on the piano - nothing very serious, just getting to know what was in the various collections by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Faure and others.

After our dinner of leftovers we all staggered to bed obscenely early and flaked out, but not before A booked an airport shuttle for me in the morning.

This morning T and I were up fairly early and the shuttle arrived to whisk me away to the airpot where I caught the plane to Christchurch.

Land of the long white cloud - Part one

I landed on Thursday afternoon at Dunedin's tiny airport (I love walking across the tarmac) and was picked up by Amanda (and Olivia) and whisked back to their place. She and Tim have a lovely, roomy house with a great view out the kitchen windows.

Yesterday morning we packed the car up and set out for Te Anau and booked into quite a nice little cabin. Then we set off on quite a long walk; it was through the beech-forest and very lovely, but in the end for me just a bit longer than I would have liked. Young Olivia (14 months) was carried on her father's back and, considering the length of time we were out, behaved extraordinarily well.

We were exhausted when we got back and it was early to bed for all. Then this morning we had a frantic pack and clean up before we set out walking along Lake Te Anau - this walk went to a beach where I caught the water-taxi which Amanda had booked for me. Five minutes or so across the lake to Te Auna where I will wait for Tim and her to walk back to the carpark; they'll drive around and collect me before we return to Dunedin. The woman running the cabins has provided lunches for us both days with enough food for an army. So much for walking off the inches ...