Going To NZ part fifteen (Cromwell To Chirstchurch Via Mt Cook)

Hmm.

We started off from Cromwell, going back across the single bridge, and went on to Taraas, Lindis Pass, Omarama and Twizel. Twizel was one stop before our 50 km odd ride to Mt Cook. The area around Twizel was really just bare lands (which was flanked by rows of hills) covered in yellowish grass. We took notice of a nearby dam and stopped to enjoy some fresh air after the journey from Cromwell that morning.

We started off to Aoraki or the Maori name for Mt Cook. According to Maori legend, the first Maori explorer who sighted New Zealand also sighted Mt Cook at the same time, and he name New Zealand Aotearoa (land of the long white cloud), and Mt Cook Aoraki (I dunno the meaning, and my memory may have garbled the facts to this legend, so sorry if it's inaccurate).

The road to Mt Cook meant we would be travelling alongside Lake Pukaki throughout. We managed (or more accurately myself for most of the time) to take some fantastic photos of Mt Cook in the distance, and we simultaneously managed to enjoy the fresh mountain air. We reached the base of Mt Cook and went to the nearby lodges which had gift shops. We managed to see a statue of Sir Edmund Hillary (the first bloke to reach the summit of Mt Everest, and also Mt Cook) in bronze.

We also climbed up the forested side of the mountain which faced Mt Cook, and took more photos. Getting down, we decided to head back to see the Ben Ohau Range which was one of the locations for the filming of The Lord Of The Rings in The Return Of The King where the Riders of Rohan gather on a ridge to see Minas Tirith burning and besieged by Orcs.

After seeing the location, we headed on to Christchurch by the towns of Lake Tekapo (along the way still managed to take some distance-shots of Mt Cook and it's neighbourign peaks), Burke's Pass, Kimberly, Fairlie, Allendale, Geraldine.

At Geraldine, we had officially entered the Canterbury Plains, and it was drought season in that region. The summer had left little good grass for the sheep to graze on, and we saw lot's of varieties of sprinklers (rotational spraying, huge structures a good fifty metres wide spraying from a very long hose, etc. Also lots of Roadkill.

From Geraldine, we moved on to Rangitata, Hinds, Winslow, Ashburton, Chertsey, Rakaia, Templeton and finally Christchurch at 4pm in the evening. We managed to settled down our stuff at a hotel before eating out at a restaraunt and refusing to sit outside (it was very windy) much to the amusement of a local: 'It's the summer!' he said. Clearly no understanding of us Asian people. No Fish and Chips nor lamb chops that evening, it was roast steak.

The night passed easy, it was really the last day the day after tomorrow, so we tried to stay clam and not cry about the prospect of leaving New Zealand (NOT!!!!).

Cheers,

Crawldaddy