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July Turning Japanese
Late July saw us hosting a Japanese leader from the annual cultural exchange with our sister city, Kurashiki. Keiko was one of two leaders accompanying a group of 10 high school aged students. They spent two weeks here in Christchurch, getting to know the city and their host families.
Keiko, a teacher, spoke excellent English and was a delight to host. She has two grown up daughters and her husband, a teacher of calligraphy, was soon to be off on a world tour demonstrating his expertise. We enjoyed a busy and enjoyable two weeks getting to know her.
In 2025, we hosted Kurashiki leaders, Shohei and Shino and we look forward to meeting them all again when we visit Japan in 2027.
August West Coast Road Trip
The West Coast of the South Island is an extraordinarily beautiful part of the country. A narrow strip with the Southern Alps on one side and the Tasman Sea on the other, views are spectacular. In between lie lush rainforests. And in winter, the skies are clear and the air crisp and clean.
Our road trip was just four days. We drove down to Twizel for our first night, visiting our dear friend Cia. From there we headed down towards Wanaka, the heavy skies making for some stunning photographs of lakes and mountains shrouded in low cloud. Our second night was spent in Haast. We explored many a side road as we headed towards Franz Josef and were not disappointed. We visited coastal hamlets, lakes and much more. A highlight were the many views of Aoraki/Mount Cook - on arriving in Franz Josef, we were advised to head away from the glacier to get a view of it as the sun went down. Shining gold as the last vestiges of the sun's rays struck the snow and ice, New Zealand's highest peaks were majestic in the fading light.
The following morning, it was a fairly direct route back to Christchurch through Arthur's Pass and Porter Pass, an interesting and picturesque drive, giving us the opportunity to reflect on the fabulous trip we'd had. We had a quick lunch stop in Hokitika, an attractive little West Coast town, before moving on, a tea stop in Arthur's Pass and in no time at all, we were back!
September Go Raro
What a surprise! Rarotonga is gorgeous!
Be warned, have your documents at the ready and preferably in paper form making the process of leaving the airport, having negotiated immigration, all the easier. Rather like Bermuda, Rarotonga requires evidence of pre-booked accommodation lasting the duration of one's stay, and return flight details. No freedom camping or overstayers here, thank you very much!
Myth busting advice: you don't need to buy duty free alcohol - this is all readily available in stores at the same price. You don't need to bring any foodstuffs because, for a not too dissimilar price to NZ shops, you can buy everything you need here. Eating out is very reasonably priced and the bus service is both lots of fun and reliable, do you really need to hire that car or that scooter? Probably not, how much of a hurry are you really in?
In truth, Rarotonga because of the cultural links hardly feels like a foreign country at all for the Kiwi visitor. People are genuinely welcoming and quick to share their culture and way of life. The place is pristine with beautiful beaches, clear waters and neat back yards. Just about every visitor wonders about the graves in people's front gardens, but when one learns that the ancestors are an integral part of daily life, celebrations and festivities, then having them there to share in life's day to day activities, it all makes sense.
We spent just eight days on the island. We could have done more swimming, lazing on the beach, but we wanted to explore too. We did a cultural show early on in our stay, and I'm glad we did. This involved learning about Rarotonga's history, language and culture. We then enjoyed a very generous and varied buffet followed by a wonderfully theatrical show depicting some of Rarotonga's history. We circumnavigated the island, on the bus, a number of times. We walked along sections of the old, inner road and David went into the mountains to climb The Needle and cross the island, one side to the other. We went snorkeling off Muri Beach as part of an organised group, heading out to the edge of the reef, enjoying both a BBQ lunch and afternoon entertainment which was hilarious!! We visited both the National Museum and a local museum as well as a privately created gardens and cafe. We made a point of going to Black Rock, as well as visiting the Seven Vaka site near Muri, cultural significant to the early settlement of New Zealand. Great fun was had at both the Saturday market in town and the Muri Night food market.
A pleasant way to spend a bit of time, without having to go anywhere, was to head down through our host's back garden and onto the beach. While the foreshore was largely made up of rocks and unsuitable for swimming, or even walking any distance, it was a great spot from which to watch the waves, spot passing vaka (ocean going canoes) and wait for whales - sadly we were unlucky with the whales on this occasion, but the was plenty of entertainment to be had finding and watching the hundreds of hermit crabs scuttling round in the sand.
Next time we'll stay for longer, but will bring with us books and other things to do while enjoying a lazy afternoon.
