Day one – Wellington to Christchurch

The bikes have been serviced, new tyres that are suitable for the trail have been put on the wheels and we are ready to ride.  I have figured out how to put the bikes on the bike rack and the rack is locked onto tow bar.  We have clothing packed for most contingencies.  The weather forecast is for rain for much of the ride but we are ever hopeful that the forecaster is wrong. 

It was an early start as we had to be at the ferry by 5:30am only to find that we could have been there a bit later which would have been better if only to give us more time to sleep. 

It is a long time since I took a car on the ferry which made it all the more exciting.  We were on the rail deck and unusually there were no railway wagons on it.  With some luck we will be one of the first cars off being the first on the ship.  We will see.  The only issue was trying to figure out how to turn off the car security system.  I followed the manual instructions so I am hoping that it has worked. 

The boat was full with passengers.  I don’t know what the proportion of foot passengers to car passengers but when we got to the passenger decks most of the decent seats were taken.  There were queues for breakfast and coffee.  The women making the coffee will have been doing it non-stop for over 3½ hours.

We called into Picton for a coffee before heading south to Christchurch.  We called into Blenheim for goodies to take to B’s sister-in-law and brother-in-law. 

The GPS wanted to send us to Christchurch via the inland route which was not the fastest way and kept trying to do that while we travelled south until we got past the area of road that had been blocked by Kaikoura earthquake.

The drive along the coast from about Ward until  Hundalees is fascinating.  Looking toward the sea you can see how much the sea has retreated due to the uplift from the earthquake, with rocks that had been underwater now a bleached white.  New beaches are being formed where the waves crash on what were rocks that were underwater and long stretches of rock are apparent before you get to the old beach.  On the landward side you can see where the massive slips have been.  In many places the road has been completely realigned.  The scale of the road engineering and railway works are amazing and to think that much of it was completed in the first year.  Work is still occurring but it is about tidying up around the edges.  The trip was quite slow but traffic was careful and courteous.  At a number of points people had stopped to view the changes both man made and those made by nature.  

 

Kaikoura was buzzing.  We stopped for a late lunch, fortuitously finding a place to park.  Cafés and shops were busy.  There was a mixture of foreign and local people around. While it was sunny it was quite cool.

At Waipara we called into the Greystone winery where I selected a special wine for our first night prior to commencing our A2O.

Finally we arrived with our hosts to be welcomed with good conversation, food and a glass of wine or two.  A lovely way to end the day.

Greystone vineyards Waipara