Paul and Cindy, New Zealand 2018: Golden Bay, final days in Christchurch

Paul gave his final exam at Uni and finished marking all 188 tests, so we were able to go on holiday for a few days. We flew north to Nelson, rented a car and drove to the Golden Bay area on the top of the South Island.

Our first destination was Te Hapu, a sheep and cattle ranch where we had reserved one of three cottages. To get there we drove the last 35 km on gravel road and on several long causeways across sea inlets.

We were rewarded with a quiet place, beautiful scenery and private beach.

The Sheep Shearers' Retreat - our cottage at Te Hapu

We shared the 1000 acres with two other couples who we rarely saw, 10 sheep dogs, and lots of sheep and cows. We saw more of the sheep and cows than the people.

Rock shelf near the beach - great exploring at low tide

Paua (abalone) shells from the top

and from the inside

The Maze at Te Hapu

We left Te Hapu and drove to our next two night stay at the Innlet, where we know the owners, Jonathan and Katie. Jonathan described the area as being out in the “wop wops,” another great kiwi slang word for being out in the boonies. We held onto our hats and visited wind swept Wharariki Beach.

The next day we hiked on Farewell Spit for 4 hours. One side is on the Tasman Sea, and the other is Golden Bay, and they are quite different from each other.

The Golden Bay (calmer) side of Farewell Spit

Cindy on the sandy track crossing Farewell Spit

Tasman Sea side of Farewell Spit

Bar-tailed godwits on the outer side of Farewell Spit

Our final day was in Nelson, where we attended the opening night of a Steampunk Christmas Carol performed by the local repertory theatre group. Great fun!

The backdrop for A Christmas Carol - Steampunk Style

Audience members dressed up in steampunk style too

We also stopped at the Nelson Provincial Museum to see an exhibit titled "A Century Of Saying Cheese", about the history of portrait photography.

Negative image of Paul and Cindy

Earlier last week, many cities in New Zealand honored war dead with ceremonies and the placing of wooden crosses. New Zealand lost over 18200 lives in World War I, which at the time was 10% of the population.

We now are back in Christchurch. We visited an exhibit at the Christchurch Art Gallery where anyone can paint the wall. Each night the wall is painted white again during the two week exhibit.

Last night we said goodbye to the Farandol Folk Dancers. It's been fun learning some new dances from them and teaching them some of the dances we do in Eau Claire.

The Farandol Folk Dancing group

Today we stopped at Willowbank Nature Reserve where Cindy has been volunteering. We got a behind the scene visit to see Fawkes, a kiwi chick born last week while we were gone. We also saw a wood pigeon (keruru) sitting on its nest, and a white-faced heron.