Day 7 – December 31:
This was always going to be a busy day, and perhaps that was even better now as we wait from afar to hear about Kay and what is coming next. This morning, we got packed up properly meaning good enough for another flight and headed to the Rotorua airport. Much to our delight and Caden’s total bewilderment, there was no security, no lines, and no need to be there two hours early but, you know, I'm a dad.
We boarded a smaller plane than the kids have ever been on and explained why there were propellers and not jets. Beautiful flight to Christchurch on the South Island. Actually, this is probably what Colorado would look like if the ocean filled in the space between the mountains. From here we got a transfer to our hotel which we would only be in for a night…actually, not even 12 hours I think, which was a good thing cause this room was small, very small, and we would have likely killed each other if we had to stay any longer. The first order of business was to visit the Cardboard Cathedral which was a request from Katy’s mom well before this trip started. Very cool actually. In 2011, Christchurch suffered a major Earthquake where much of the downtown was decimated. To this day, many buildings are still in repair or have been removed entirely. One of those is the main Cathedral. After the earthquake, the community built up what they called a Transitional Cathedral made of quick build materials. The result is a beautiful building which is indeed made of cardboard in many parts.
After that and a lunch, we headed back to the hotel to get dressed for the much anticipated “penguin event”. Another driver, Guy, came to get us and take us on a 1.5 hour journey to Akaroa. A beautiful town settled by the French (and with plenty of French influence still) that is along a Fiord within a giant crater of an old volcano. Guy, an 85 year old with a diverse background, was a great chauffer for us and navigated windy roads as if he was 30…must be the water.
Here, we met our next tour guides who drove us over yet another extremely steep and windy mountain pass to the other side of the town where there is a private farm on the water that became an inadvertent Blue Penguin sanctuary. What we quickly learned is that we were basically part of a research team to check on penguins. Our guide, Kaitlyn, is a getting her master in penguin studies and was scooping poop and taking notes throughout the tour. On this property, there are hundreds of cute boxes that serve as nests for the many penguins that call this farm home. The boxes have the names of each parent that will rear and guard the chicks until they leave the nest. A reminder, this tour started at 7pm and didn’t get to the farm until 8; penguins are only active in the dark…during the day they hunt. We had to wear camo none the less as to not be seen and follow careful guidelines to not be there as much as possible. Walking along the many nests, our guide carefully lifted the cover on a few to see if the chicks (who should be left home by now) were still there. We had to stand perfectly still, not say a word, not use a flash, and hope to catch a quick glance of the tiny penguins. We had some luck too! After that, we hiked to an observation tower to watch for the parents of the remaining chicks coming back in from the sea. Took a high-powered scope, but we saw some heading in. Were also lucky enough to see one chick emerge from their nest and dance around and another parent come to shore. By now, it is 10pm and still, shockingly, light enough to see all this!
We had to reverse the iffy drive now over these dirt roads and winding passes in the dark back to Guy who was waiting to do the same. He pulled over midway for us to see the stars which we had not seen (because of clouds) since we had been here. The Southern Cross was there amongst a beautiful view of the Milky Way. Overall, amazing how different the sky looked. I think while probably most of us couldn’t name all the constellations in our sky back home, we know the stars well enough to realize these look very different. And to top it off, we were just in the outskirts of town when New Year’s hit; counted down in the car and saw some fireworks outside. Interesting being amongst the first to welcome the new year in.
New Zealand Day 8
This was always going to be a busy day, and perhaps that was even better now as we wait from afar to hear about Kay and what is coming next. This morning, we got packed up properly meaning good enough for another flight and headed to the Rotorua airport. Much to our delight and Caden’s total bewilderment, there was no security, no lines, and no need to be there two hours early but, you know, I'm a dad.
We boarded a smaller plane than the kids have ever been on and explained why there were propellers and not jets. Beautiful flight to Christchurch on the South Island. Actually, this is probably what Colorado would look like if the ocean filled in the space between the mountains. From here we got a transfer to our hotel which we would only be in for a night…actually, not even 12 hours I think, which was a good thing cause this room was small, very small, and we would have likely killed each other if we had to stay any longer. The first order of business was to visit the Cardboard Cathedral which was a request from Katy’s mom well before this trip started. Very cool actually. In 2011, Christchurch suffered a major Earthquake where much of the downtown was decimated. To this day, many buildings are still in repair or have been removed entirely. One of those is the main Cathedral. After the earthquake, the community built up what they called a Transitional Cathedral made of quick build materials. The result is a beautiful building which is indeed made of cardboard in many parts.
After that and a lunch, we headed back to the hotel to get dressed for the much anticipated “penguin event”. Another driver, Guy, came to get us and take us on a 1.5 hour journey to Akaroa. A beautiful town settled by the French (and with plenty of French influence still) that is along a Fiord within a giant crater of an old volcano. Guy, an 85 year old with a diverse background, was a great chauffer for us and navigated windy roads as if he was 30…must be the water.
Here, we met our next tour guides who drove us over yet another extremely steep and windy mountain pass to the other side of the town where there is a private farm on the water that became an inadvertent Blue Penguin sanctuary. What we quickly learned is that we were basically part of a research team to check on penguins. Our guide, Kaitlyn, is a getting her master in penguin studies and was scooping poop and taking notes throughout the tour. On this property, there are hundreds of cute boxes that serve as nests for the many penguins that call this farm home. The boxes have the names of each parent that will rear and guard the chicks until they leave the nest. A reminder, this tour started at 7pm and didn’t get to the farm until 8; penguins are only active in the dark…during the day they hunt. We had to wear camo none the less as to not be seen and follow careful guidelines to not be there as much as possible. Walking along the many nests, our guide carefully lifted the cover on a few to see if the chicks (who should be left home by now) were still there. We had to stand perfectly still, not say a word, not use a flash, and hope to catch a quick glance of the tiny penguins. We had some luck too! After that, we hiked to an observation tower to watch for the parents of the remaining chicks coming back in from the sea. Took a high-powered scope, but we saw some heading in. Were also lucky enough to see one chick emerge from their nest and dance around and another parent come to shore. By now, it is 10pm and still, shockingly, light enough to see all this!
We had to reverse the iffy drive now over these dirt roads and winding passes in the dark back to Guy who was waiting to do the same. He pulled over midway for us to see the stars which we had not seen (because of clouds) since we had been here. The Southern Cross was there amongst a beautiful view of the Milky Way. Overall, amazing how different the sky looked. I think while probably most of us couldn’t name all the constellations in our sky back home, we know the stars well enough to realize these look very different. And to top it off, we were just in the outskirts of town when New Year’s hit; counted down in the car and saw some fireworks outside. Interesting being amongst the first to welcome the new year in.
New Zealand Day 8
