Sunday, 11 Nov 2007: Queenstown - Mt. Cook - Christchurch

Total distance we travelled today was 600 km by coach. It's another scenic ride passing through AJ Hackett Bungee Jump site, farms, winery, cheesery, plains and valleys and lakes.

Made a stop at Jones' fruit shop. Their kiwi fruit was really sweet and refreshing, both the green one and the golden ones.

We followed the Kawarau river to Cromwell and travelled over Lindis Pass which connects Omarama town and the Mt. Cook area. Made a stop at Omarama for a rum & raisin ice cream, short exploration and phototaking.

Next stop was at Peter lookout for Mt.Cook view.

Had lunch at Mt.Cook - grilled steak sandwich and steak mushroom pie at Old Mountaineer's cafe. Another restaurant in the vicinity is at the Hermitage hotel which I think the toilet has the nicest handwashing basin in NZ. Some public toilet has only cold water tap. Some others have two taps - one for hot water and another for cold water. The only way I know to get a warm water is to close the hole and mix the hot and the cold water.. a bit funny, I think. The hermitage's toilet has warm water flowing and flat stone as the basin.

We passed by Lake Pukaki, and then stopped by Lake Tekapo Township for a quick phototaking, before continuing to Church of the Good Shepherd at the side of Lake Tekapo. This church is used for both Catholic and Christian communities alike as they have the service schedules posted on the door. It was a pretty little church, sitting alone beside the transcendent lake Tekapo. Its altar wall has a glass window overlooking the lake.



We passed by Burke Pass and Ferlie town, before stopping by at the town of Geraldine. It has a population of 2000 and it is popular for retired farmers. There are a few churches here as well.. took photos of St. Andrew's and St.Mary's church. They also have nice shops selling ice cream, various cheese, various jams where tasting is free, bakery, and coffee shops.

Then we travelled along Canterbury Plains - too many sheeps to count that almost everyone on the coach fell asleep. Passed by Dunsandel and Rolleston towns. I noticed that all bridges that we passed through are one lane bridge, where both lanes have to take turns to pass the bridge. Another unique point for the bus: they can kneel to the left! whenever necessary, passengers can request the driver to lower down the left side of the bus for easy access.. that's nice.

Arrived in Christchurch in the evening but we still rushed to the Willowbank Nature Reserve as we want the chance to see a live kiwi. Managed to see a few of them.. very cute small hairy wingless bird with sharp nose. As they are one of the endangered species and they are nocturnal animals, they are protected in a night-like habitat where flash photography is not allowed.

A side note - during the coach travel, we noticed there are lots of dead possums flattened on the roads. I was wondering if they like sunbathing so much they don't care if there are cars ready to flatten them, or they're so stupid they can't learn from the others' mistakes.

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Anyway, one of the coach drivers told us an amusing insight that NZ people dislike possums because they eat wingless birds' eggs and therefore making the birds endangered species. And possums consume 20,000 tons of bush every night.

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Possums are not native NZ animals, they were brought in from Australia and now there are about 40 millions of them in NZ. What's funny is, they are considered endangered species in Australia now while in NZ people think that a dead possum is a good one. Shawls made from possum fur are very expensive, though, as it takes into account the skinning and the cleaning. According to the bus driver, you can define possum as: flat animals found on New Zealand's roads :)