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Posts from the ‘New Zealand’ category

New Zealand: la petite ville française de Akaroa

Akaroa is a small, quiet, charming town with colonial-architecture of both English and French stylings. Located about midway down the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, Akaroa can be reached by car from Christchurch in about an hour. For many, the trip will definitely take longer with required stops in Birdings Flat, Little River, Hilltop, and Duvauchelle.

In the race to claim sovereignty over New Zealand (even though the Maori were present for much longer), Akaroa was claimed by both English and French in 1840. Upon their arrival on the ship Britomart, the English won the “claims race” by a couple of weeks (or a couple of years, depending upon the definition of “claim”).

However, the French influence remains strong on this side of the planet. Even if the antipode to Akaroa lies near France, you’ll see from the photos below that the signs do not lie and help keep alive the spirit of the little French town or “la petite ville française”.

It doesn’t stop with just European history. A daytrip to Akaroa isn’t complete with a trip out into the harbour.

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Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

New Zealand: Christchurch red zone post-quake

The sight of overhead cranes.

The clang of jackhammers.

The constant rumble of dump trucks filled with debris.

The dust clouds surrounding sites slated for demolition or new buildings under construction.

After four earthquakes since 2010, over half of the buildings in Christchurch’s Central Business District (CBD) were destroyed or have been condemned; the number I got from informal conversations was 70 to 80 percent. The expected cost to the local economy and for reconstruction will be in the billions of dollars. These are staggering numbers. Before reconstruction can begin, there are buildings to take down, and mountains of rubble to take away.

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New Zealand : Wellington Daybreak from Mount Victoria

Before visiting the South Island for the first time, I spent a week with friends in Wellington, New Zealand at the beginning of July 2012. I didn’t have my own set of wheels, but I didn’t need a car in a compact city that is easy to cover on foot. If necessary, the buses work well to reach most destinations in greater Wellington.

The winter weather had been beautiful and relatively calm, which I thought was a little unusual for winter in “windy Welly”. But I was definitely not one to complain, and before leaving Wellington, I wanted to watch the sunrise from the summit of Mount Victoria.

At a height of about 200 metres or 660 feet, Mount Victoria (Tangi Te Keo in Maori) may be more like a hill, but it’s tall enough to get a great view of the city and the harbour. Wellington harbour is also known as Port Nicholson, and Te Whanganui a Tara in Maori.

I caught the first buses of the day: what would I see? Would the skies be clear? I was the sole person to alight the bus at the summit, just minutes before sunrise. There’s something to be said to be the only person at the summit to welcome the brand new day.

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