Our guide for the day, Paul, picked us up at our Bed n Breakfast at 8:40 a.m......he was right on time and delightful.....Christchurch is his home, but currently he is going to northern Australia for the winters because it is too cold in New Zealand. We will be with Paul all day, as you will see...we pick up two others (Americans, believe it or not, from Arizona....age 20ish, who did not speak one word all day)....and we meet 17 Aussies from a Princess cruise ship along the way.
A sampling of one of New Zealand's many rivers....Tom paid more attention than I did to Paul's explanation about the rivers.....passing the computer to Tom!
Checking out the river with the non-verbal Arizona couple and Paul.....actually, Paul is stalling because the cruise ship passengers are running about 45 minutes late! Our goal is the Waimakariri River where Sir William (Bill) Hamilton invented, developed and tested the original jet boats....again, I pass the computer to Tom.....Jet boats are particularly important to New Zealand because the rivers are mostly shallow. The jet boat is moved by a huge water pump or two. The pump suction is on the bottom of the boat and the discharge is out the back. The jet boat can operate in 6-inches of water depth. And with the 300 HP per jet, they can really move. They can do 360 degree turns in very little space. And the dummy who gets the aft starboard seat (me) gets the wettest.
The river system in New Zealand is unique -- the reason they are so shallow is because New Zealand is geologically very young. The mountains are young and steep. When it rains, the water runs off quickly, filling the streams and rivers to capacity. The rains take huge rocks, broken into smaller rocks and, eventually, to gravel and then to sand. The mountain crevices dump the gravel into the flats and ultimately into the rivers. The gravel settles and spreads across the valley making wide river beds of gravel with streams of water meandering through the wide bed. The streams are carrying more gravel that fills the stream. The water then finds a different path to get to the sea. This make for shallow, wide, sometimes rushing stream. Now that I have bored you to death, I'll turn it back to Kathy.
This is Ron, friend of Bill Hamilton, and multiple times the jet boat racing champion of New Zealand, both North and South Island....currently serving us coffee, tea or hot chocolate and cookies....and a BATHROOM! before we launch.
Maggie, Ron's beloved dog, greets each and every one of us.
Step up, ladies and gents!!! We are about to TAKE OFF!
That is Kathy, trying to comfort Maggie....like she needs that!!! Maggie has done this hundreds of times....it is my first...so who is patting whom here?
ZOOM!!! 600 hp!!
Just a bit of turbulence to make it more fun?
Ron stopped twice to give some info....but his gentle voice and Maggie's barking in our ears (directly behind us) negated our hearing ANYTHING!
This is the deepest part of the river, passing through the Waimakariri Gorge.
Maggie is loving the ride! She only barks when it gets quiet.
A thrilling 30 minute ride, complete with three 360 degree circles, at full speed, which thrilled ALL of us, including Maggie.
The beginning of our 14 mile ride through the "station"...again to Tom....According to Paul, a station is a big farm. Farms are much more productive on a "per acre" basis than a station is. Basically, the station includes vast acres of steep terrain that will support a few sheep and cattle. Kinda like raising sheep and cattle in west Texas.
The railroad was built during the Goldrush era in New Zealand, approximately 1865-1885....and we will later cross this very train tressel.....ON a train!
This particular "station" included about 20,000 acres....and after two hours of a bumping, jostling, swaying, bouncing, jarring, teeth rattling, butt busting ride in a 4 X 4 vehicle, holding 21 sweaty, tired, hungry, thirsty, increasingly cantankerous mates....we finally stopped for toilets and lunch....in that order of preference!!!!
TOILETS (this is the NZ term....call a spade a spade....it is NOT a rest room....it is a TOILET, plain and simple....a very "happy" place as they said in Costa Rica!
Now we are not just taking a picture of the rail system....we are going to ride it!!! But not the "goods train" (freight train) which we previously portrayed with all the graffiti...
Modern, clean, quiet, smooth, vista windows on side and overhead, commentary on geography, landscape, towns, etc....even with a touch of Kiwi humor, e.g., citing some non-native plants which had been introduced to NZ in years past....."Kinda like Human Resources dealing with non-productive employees....ya can't get rid of them!!!"
We boarded at this depot....close to the Southern Alps....home of Mt. Cook, the highest point in NZ at approximately 4,000 meters.
Admittedly, we have been passengers on many trains....this was a first for us....an open air passenger car where one can take photos, see the landscape without any interference and smell clean air....wonderful!
We were DOWN THERE!!!! on the jet boat!
Must try out the club car
Back "home" at 7:00 pm.....quite a loooooong day....to our hostess, Linda, and her husband, Paul. Linda was a journalist for BBC, TV and radio, throughout the 90's. She returned to her home, Christchurch, after 9/11/2001 to be closer to her family.
Lulu is only released from "hiding" if there are tolerant guests in her home....
This path next to our property was perfect for some exercise....which Tom used...and Kathy looked at out the bathroom window.
This is a view of the Pacific View Paradise, our bed and breakfast, from the path.
Christchurch at dawn from our bathroom window
Christchurch at night from our balcony
Good Night, Moon....and good bye Christchurch!
P.S. Another addendum to Life at Sea on the Queen Elizabeth.....as we exited the Canal, near Panama City, the upper crust Panama society showed us their best side (thanks, Angela and Michael, for this remarkable memory)!
One more addendum....here in NZ, it is March 5, the census deadline....in the States, it is still March 4, but we wanted you to know we "did" it on the deadline!!!!! We are registered, we are "legal", we are moving and today is the deadline!!!!
This is an early April Fool's....it IS census day in NZ and we did, in fact, have to fill out a census form, for cryin' out loud, just cuz we were in the country ON THAT DAY!!!
