Our final night in NZ took us to the specacular hamlet of Akaroa. It is about an hours twisty drive from Christchurch out on the end of the Banks Penninsula, a spit of land composed of ancient volcanic caldera remnants (check out this view from space). Incredibly craggy, beautiful, and challenging to drive! After some white knuckle maneuvering up and down the unbelievably torturous roads we arrived to our final holiday park.
It was the only French settlement in all of NZ and all the street names and most of the architecture borrows heavily from the original settlers. Our holiday park was up on the hill with a great view of the village and harbor right from our camper van. It was sort of a mellow evening as we just enjoyed our last family meal in the beautiful setting (well, as mellow as a meal can possibly be while trapped inside a small metal van with a crazy toddler).
The next morning we shared breakfast with a very nice Scottish couple coincidentally from Dundee, the hereditary home of the Scrymgeour clan. They too had spent their last night in NZ, but were on their way to Australia for the next year - yes, year - of their vacation. They had spent the last year touring NZ. Still shocking when I read this - apparently we Americans have no idea how to vacation!
We ventured back into Christchurch and spent most of the day there as our flight left at 10 pm that night. We saw first hand the devastation the earthquake had inflicted. Probably every 3 or 4th structure had visible signs of damage or was currently being repaired. The whole central business district was closed off to automobile traffic and you could hear the grind and buzz of machinery taking down most of the damaged buildings as a constant background. The scope of damage was shocking, but as the locals said all the noise and commotion was just the sound of Christchurch rebuilding.
We ventured back into Christchurch and spent most of the day there as our flight left at 10 pm that night. We saw first hand the devastation the earthquake had inflicted. Probably every 3 or 4th structure had visible signs of damage or was currently being repaired. The whole central business district was closed off to automobile traffic and you could hear the grind and buzz of machinery taking down most of the damaged buildings as a constant background. The scope of damage was shocking, but as the locals said all the noise and commotion was just the sound of Christchurch rebuilding.
We spent most of the afternoon at the Rugby Fan Zone set up for the locals and visitors to enjoy the World Cup. It consisted of a huge area with enormous screens for watching the games live, and also a smaller rugby pitch set up specifically for the under 12 crowd. Connor loved watching the little kids playing touch rugby, but had the most fun just running around on all the bleachers set up around the park.
After returning the van, we went reluctantly to the airport for our short flight to Auckland, and then onto our flight back to LA. Our plane just started to board as the All Blacks kicked off against the French in their pool play match. This was probably the only pool game that the ABs had been worried about, having more than one past world cup spoiled by the French. Luckily, the pilots kept us up to date for the first hour of the flight, giving us the score at half time and at full time!
And so ended our wonderful trip to NZ. Overall, a fantastic adventure, and think that this will not be our last visit to the "land of the long white cloud"!
And so ended our wonderful trip to NZ. Overall, a fantastic adventure, and think that this will not be our last visit to the "land of the long white cloud"!
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