Shooting the Rapids in Art Deco Style

Our Christmas Eve Itinerary

The night's sleep was everything for which I had hoped, and then some.  We all woke up rejuvenated, and had the remainder of our breakfast food from the previous day.  We were continuing southeast today, toward the city of Napier, on the eastern coast of the north island.  The terrain was still dominated by large dairy and sheep farms, in addition to orchards and fields of various grains.  Our intermediate stop was at Lake Taupo, the largest freshwater lake in New Zealand and second largest in Oceania.  It is actually formed by the crater of a long-collapsed volcano.  The area still has a lot of thermal fields and geysers, and you could see multiple columns of steam doting the horizon as we drove.  At times, I looked like we were approaching a smoldering battlefield.  We left Rotorua in bright sunshine, but clouds filled in by the time we reached Lake Taupo, with forecasts for extended showers all afternoon.  Luckily for us, the rain never came.

Our Second Hotel in Rotorua 

Small Trout Stream Behind our Room

Like Rotorua, Lake Taupo attracts a lot of vacationers, particularly campers.  In fact, I have never seen as many camper vans as we did on this trip.  New Zealand is known as a place to come and RV, but I hesitate to think what number I could have reached had I started counting camper vans from the day we arrived.  There are literally dozens of companies that cater to camper rentals for tourists.  That aside, we had booked a Jet Boat tour on the Aratiatia river, which flows from an hydroelectric dam on Lake Taupo.  The boat held about 10 people, and our driver propelled us at speeds upwards of 60 miles an hour through rapids below the dam.  He also would jump rapids and do 180-degree turns.  It was really exhilarating, and we had an excellent time.  We each got wet, but much of that dried during long stretches at high speed.  We also saw several spots along the river where various movies, mostly by Peter Jackson, were filmed, including the famous barrel scene from the Hobbit.  Before we took the jet boat tour, we had time to hike down along the lake, including to a spectacular waterfall.

From Our Hike

All Geared Up for the Jet Boat

We're in the Last Row

It was Christmas Eve, by the way, but it did not feel like it.  In fact, we had all commented on the lack of decorations for the holiday.  We'd all been in Thailand near/over Christmas, and though it was hot and a non-Christian country, they had plenty of decorations around town.  I had been in Tokyo the week prior, also a non-Christian country, and the city was all decked out for Christmas, or Winter Festival as they called it.  Still, aside from some banners and the occasional Santa, it was hard to know it was Christmas.  I can only imagine that having the holiday over the summer has surely changed things, and so many decorations in the northern hemisphere seem focused on detracting from the dreariness of winter and the shortness of the days.  There, everything was in full bloom and we had 18 hours of daylight, so I assume traditions evolved differently.

We were spending the night in the coastal city of Napier, located on Hawkes Bay, which is primarily a shipping port, but also a frequent stop for cruise ships.  It is the largest wool center in the southern hemisphere, and also the center of the biggest orchards in New Zealand.  We drove by miles and miles of peach, apricot, and apple orchards.  We laughed, too, as we kept seeing signs advertised stone fruit for sale.  We all wondered what exactly a stone fruit looked like.  We later learned that the term refers to any fruit with a pit, such as peaches and apricots.  We also learned that a kiwi -- one you eat -- is strictly called kiwi fruit, as the shorter name refers to people, or is an adjective.  Hawkes Bay, too, is famous for its wine, and has the second-largest concentration of wineries in the country.  Though it was Christmas Eve, we were able to visit the oldest winery in all of New Zealand -- the Mission Estate, which opened in 1851.  It is nestled on a hillside overlooking the bay, and has a beautiful old colonial era (and style) mansion, which serves as a restaurant and tasting room.  It started as a Catholic mission, with monks making the original wine.  As we had not had lunch, we opted for an outdoor meal on the veranda.  It had rained before we arrived, but the clouds were starting to dissipate.  We were under cover, and there were propane heaters, which really helped.  Our lunch was probably one of our two best meals during the entire trip -- the other came later, in Queenstown.  We had learned, too, that New Zealand has no official drinking age.  The only restrictions are that anyone under the age of 18 cannot purchase alcohol.  That allowed Anna to enjoy the odd wine of glass with us, including at this lunch, but she passed on the formal tasting we did afterwards.  We had our wine suitcase with us, and filled a few slots after the tasting.

Entrance to the Winery

Mission Estate Winery

Aside from wine, Napier's notoriety for tourists is that the city was destroyed in an earthquake and subsequent fire in 1931.  Rebuilding began during the height of the Art Deco movement, and most of the downtown area comprises well-preserved architecture from that era.  We made it to the Art Deco Foundation Museum before they closed.  K had read about a walking tour they run.  Sure enough, they had one leaving in 10 minutes, with room.  In the end, however, the tour would last two hours, it was already 5:00 pm, and we wanted to go to Christmas Eve church service, so we passed.  We did, however, have some time to walk around the city center and do a little shopping.  Here, too, it was quite evident that it did not feel like Christmas Eve, as so many shops were still open.

One of the Original Cars Used for Art Deco Tours

Walking Downtown Napier on Christmas Eve

Our hotel was quite nice, and located on the waterfront in a new section of town, overlooking some beaches.  Despite the lack of an overt look of Christmas, a quick Google search located lots of nearby churches, including the Trinity United Methodist Church -- which is the exact name of the church in which K and I were married.  It was located in a historic building back in the old city.  We arrived about 15 minutes early, fully expecting a scene similar to what we have at home. Namely, standing-room only.  Instead, we weren't even sure if they were going to have a service.  It looked empty.  We parked outside and waited, and slowly some people started to arrive.  We went in about five minutes before service, and were among perhaps 20 worshipers.  Aside from another couple -- probable tourists -- we were the youngest by far, as most everyone else looked to be New Zealanders, and very elderly to boot.  I suspect churches there are facing much of the same challenge as some here in the States.  The service was familiar, but did have some very interesting Kiwi touches.  We sang Silent Night in Maori -- luckily the words were printed, and there was a boom-voiced Maori women behind us, whose pronunciation we could mimic.  The congressional response, too, had lines of Maori.  There was also a reading, which was the nativity story told as though it had occurred in a New Zealand beachside town.

It was still light after services, which was also weird.  We compounded that weirdness by picking up a Dominoes pizza on our way back to the hotel.  We all had had the late lunch at Mission Estate, but we figured a pizza was a safe bet if we wanted something on which to snack later in the evening.

Anna and K turned in, while I stayed up a little while.  I had hoped to watch a Christmas movie or special before turning in.  Interestingly enough, two local stations were showing Die Hard, which while technically set on Christmas Eve is not exactly a Christmas movie in my mind.

Meri Kirihemete!

Merry Christmas, or Meri Kirihemete!

The sun was trying to burn through the clouds as Christmas morning dawned.  I was up first.  Our room had balconies off of the master bedroom and the living room, so I went outside and read for a while.  It was interesting to see people running on the beach and boardwalk.  There were even some folks swimming in the ocean, and I saw one surfer attempt his luck.  It certainly didn't look like Christmas morning outside.  We were in no hurry to leave, so we took our time eating breakfast in our small kitchen.  I turned on the TV again, to see if the Christmas Day fare was any more festive.  I came across a show which cut to churches of all denominations across New Zealand, for various carols.  It lifted my spirits, but it was also very evident, when looking at the congregations and choirs appearing in each church, that the church-going population in New Zealand is definitely skewed very much on the elderly side.  It made we wonder if they have state taxes to subsidize the churches, such as in Germany, as I'm not sure how many can sustain themselves as the population continues to age.

View to the Beach from our Hotel on Christmas Morning

When trying to plan activities for this day, we were severely limited.  If we'd been able to follow the Gate 1 itinerary exactly, we would have visited the largest and oldest national park, during our drive southward to the capital city of Wellington.  Alas, that park -- and most every other tourist attraction in the country -- are open every day of the year EXCEPT Christmas.  That was fine, as we elected to just enjoy the drive.  It was a longish drive, of about four-and-a-half hours, and we would be crossing the country from east coast to west coast, before driving straight south to Wellington, which sits on the southern tip of the north island.  Trivial Pursuit question:  Wellington is the southern-most capital city in the world.

We drove gradually but steadily upwards, through the orchards and vineyards of Hawkes Bay, and we ended up crossing two mountain ranges, with some medium-grade turns along the way.  The driving throughout the trip had been very civilized.  The roads were in great shape, and aside from the highway directly out of Auckland, every road had been two lanes, one in each direction.  At regular intervals there were passing lanes, so -- at least on the north island -- we never really sat behind anyone.  The highest speed limit anywhere in the country is 100 km per hour (about 62 mph).  We had been warned that police would be out in force, and to not drive more than 5 km over the speed limit.  Almost everyone drove right at speed, and people were really great about yielding left through the passing zones, so it made it all very pleasant.

Windmill Power Field Along the Drive to Wellington

Leaving the Hawkes Bay Region Behind

The drive down the second ridge line, down to the coast, was very dramatic.  At points there, and leading directly into Wellington, the highway hugged the coastline, usually on a cliff overlooking rocks or beaches below.  It looks very much like the Pacific Coast Highway in California.  We saw very heavy traffic coming out of Wellington, mostly with cars full of families heading to the beaches for Christmas bar-b-ques.   Traffic going into town was pretty much non-existent.

The city was absolutely beautiful.  Shiny and clean, with tall buildings along the waterfront and lots of families walking promenades along the bay.  Our hotel was a Hilton located in a converted Art Deco insurance building from the 1920's.  As it was a holiday and we were downtown, we easily found parking (free!) on the street around the corner from the hotel.  I had booked the two-bedroom penthouse apartment, which took up the entire top floor of the hotel.  The room was wonderful.  K announced repeatedly that she wasn't going to leave, and we both speculated how wonderful it would have been to have been able to live and do a tour at the US Embassy there in Wellington.  We had two large bedrooms, a big living room, a full kitchen, a massive bathroom, and a weird little "extra" room, which had an easy chair and phone desk.

Building in Which Our Hotel was Located

Living Room

View from the Room

K and Anna wanted to rest and enjoy the room, so I went exploring.  I went down to the waterfront, and there noticed the multitude of rentable scooters sitting around.  These scooters are now commonplace in DC, though I had never used one.  Multiple companies were running them.  I came across one belonging to Uber.  More out of curiosity, I opened my Uber app, scanned the bar code on top of the scooter, and it received a signal to "unlock" it.  It was then mine to use.  It was electric, and I only needed to push off and then use a throttle and brake on each handle.  It was so much fun.  I was able to travel several miles up and down the waterfront promenade, and then through the heart of downtown, which was all but deserted, as all the shops were closed.  I must have ridden for well over an hour, and it only cost about $6.  When I was done, I reopened the app, marked that I was finished.  Snapped a picture of the scooter, and then walked away.  So much fun.

Wellington

Wellington

It reads: "A Very Welly Christmas"

Part of the Waterfront, Across from the Ferry Terminal

Museum of New Zealand, or Te Papa Tongarewa

 

I had read that finding restaurants open on Christmas Day was going to be a challenge anywhere in New Zealand.  Any businesses which are open on Christmas are required to pay their employees extra, and an automatic 30% surcharge is added to all purchases, other than gasoline.  I scoured the Internet and found restaurants in Wellington that had been open last Christmas (I could find three), and contacted them back in the April/May timeframe.  To my surprise, two of the three immediately wrote me back and offered to take the reservation, which included pre-paying for the fixed-price meal.  After reading reviews of both, I picked one, and it was located in a hotel only a few blocks from our own.  They had one seating for the night -- 7:00 pm, so we made sure to get there on time.  The meal was very nice, and they had traditional Kiwi fare from which to choose.  We also had English crackers at each seat.  We each popped our own, before we realized that we were supposed to find someone else to hold one end, and whomever ended up with the string side would keep the prize inside.  Oh well.  While we held off on our formal exchange of Christmas gifts until our return to Virginia, we did bring along a gift for Anna to open at dinner.  She is a huge fan of Trea Turner (shortstop for the Washington Nationals), and we were able to get her a signed photograph, which I think was quite the hit.

That's Keith the Kiwi Posing With Us

The meal took a very long time.  Longer, frankly, than it should have, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.  It was dark by the time we walked back to our hotel, which is one indication of how long it took.  While it certainly was not a traditional Christmas by any stretch of the imagination, it is positively one we will never forget.

A Different Island, a Different Vibe...

Boxing Day Itinerary

Christmas has been a long day for us, and we were happy to have the very nice hotel room.  We all slept well, even though we did have to get up earlier than usual.  This morning we were to fly from Wellington down to Christchurch, which is on the south island.  Our domestic flight was to leave at 9:05 am.  We did not know what to expect, so we left our hotel after breakfast, shortly after 7:00 am.  The airport was close-by, and there was no traffic of which to speak.  It was 26 December, or Boxing Day in the British empire -- current and former.  Evidently this originated under Queen Victoria in the 19th Century, and was traditionally the day when English servants were given the day (or some time) off of work, as well as a "Christmas box" from their masters.  While it is still marked in New Zealand, and is in fact an official bank holiday, it has since morphed into their equivalent of Black Friday.  It is a day when huge sales are held across the country.  When I had been watching Die Hard on Christmas Eve, every single commercial was for Boxing Day sales.

Our Hotel in Wellington

The car rental desk was not even open when we arrived at the airport, due to the holiday, but it was no problem to just park it and drop the keys.  The airport itself was, however, very busy, with many, many people heading on vacation.  Multiple domestic cities are served from Christchurch, along with many cities in Australia, and a few international destinations, to include Singapore and Doha, Qatar.  We managed to have plenty of time to deal with security formalities and even spend some time in the lounge before our flight.

Our Plane for the Short Flight to Christchurch

A Statue of Gandalf Riding a Golden Eagle in the Wellington Airport

Taking Off From Wellington

Our Approach into Christchurch

It was a short 40-minute flight to Christchurch, the largest city (400,000 people) on the south island.  New Zealand has about 4.7 million people in total, and only 1.5 million of those live on the south island.  So, Christchurch is home to almost a third of the entire island's population, but still had a very small-town feel to it.  We had arranged a transfer upon arrival, and for a while it looked like two of our bags were not going to show up.  They did, eventually, each with a large "misdirected" label on the outside, but our driver was more than happy to wait.  She was a middle-aged woman and life-long resident of Christchurch.  It was about a 20-minute drive to our hotel, in the center of town, and she shared her recommendations for sightseeing, as well as stories about her experiences during the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, the latter of which killed almost 200 people.  Huge areas of the city were flattened, and the city is still pockmarked with buildings which have been deemed structurally unsound, but which have yet to be taken down.  The mixture of new, old, and barren all contributed to the city's odd vibe.  We drove into town through beautiful suburbs, with gorgeous ranch homes and lush gardens.  As we neared the city proper, you began to see buildings with obvious cracks, cleared lots, and sparkling new buildings, all with unique features.  It felt incongruent to me.  You could see where large shock absorbers, for lack of a better term, where built into all of the new buildings, while renovated ones often had complete exoskeletons built around them, to keep them from collapsing in a future quake.  Our guide back at Hobbiton, from Indiana, had compared Christchurch to Portland, which is known for being strange and unique.  Our driver explained how the first earthquake, in September 2010 had been short but violent.  No one died in that one, but it damaged many buildings.  A much larger, dual-axis quake followed in February 2011.  They said it was dual in that two fault lines, each running in a different direction, erupted at the same time.  That earthquake lasted for 45 seconds, which I'm sure felt like an eternity.  The first quake hit in the dead of night, whereas the main one was in the early afternoon, which likely saved some lives.

The unfortunate symbol for modern-day Christchurch is their cathedral, in the heart of the city, which was severely damaged in the second quake.  It stands as an odd memorial, though agreements have been made to build a new one on the same location.  For now, it stands as a sad landmark.  Our brand-new hotel, built to the new maximum height of 10 stories, was located directly across from the cathedral.  We arrived around 10:45 am, but were pleased to discover that our room was ready and waiting for us.  After making some Christmas calls back to the States (it was Christmas afternoon then, in the U.S.), we headed out for a hop-on/hop-off tour we had already booked.  That took us around for an overview of the city, past the main sights, and permitted us to decide what we wanted to see in greater detail.  Our first tour was by bus, and included, as part of its regular route, a stop at the Christchurch shopping mall.  It is the largest mall in all of New Zealand.  That said, it was still Boxing Day, and when we got on the bus, we were told that their schedule was thrown way off by the horrible traffic at the mall.  Sure enough, it was like going to Tysons Corner Mall on a Saturday before Christmas.  We sat back on the upper deck of the open-air bus and watched as cars sharked the parking garages looking for spaces, and people swarmed the sidewalks, overloaded with packages.

Christchurch Cathedral, Damaged in the 2011 Earthquake

On the Hop-on/Hop-off Bus

Boxing Day Traffic at the Mall

Our Just-Completed Hotel, Across from the Cathedral

We got off that tour back at Cathedral Square, and then took a second tour, this one on the historic trolley the crisscrosses central Christchurch.  That was particularly fun, especially as every trolley was a little different.  They were all original, but they came from different decades, so each one had it's one unique character.  K and I decided we wanted to take a further tour through the world-renowned botanical gardens, while Anna opted to go back to the hotel, to shower and "detox."  The weather, by the way, was beautiful, if not a little cold.  High's were in the 50's (and this is summer), and it was windy.  The gardens were absolutely mammoth, but our tour was on an electric tram, so we got to cover a lot of ground....literally.  Christchurch is unique in that their water table is very close to the surface (due to the tectonic plates underneath), but the soil is also sandy and not swampy.  That unique combinations means that plants, and trees in particular, grow extremely quickly.  We saw trees less then 10 years old that could have easily stood for 100 years elsewhere.  We also saw many trees hundreds of years old.  It was a great tour, and the guide (from Ireland) was tremendous.

Entrance to the Botanical Gardens

Rose Garden

Only Poinsettias We Saw the Whole Time; They Were in a Hot House

On One of the Trollies

While on one of our earlier tours, it was pointed out that the bar located in the old city hall next to our hotel, has consistently been voted best in the city.  We opted to validate that claim, with pre-dinner drinks.   It was a fun visit, and the bartenders and serve staff were all dressed from the 1920's, and the cocktails were presented with great flourish.  For dinner, we opted for a well-reviewed restaurant known as the birthplace of the King of Snake cocktail. I had never heard of this, but evidently it is well known in Asia.  The food was Asian fusion and was outstanding.  We each tried the signature cocktail, which features ginger, Thai chili, palm sugar, vodka, and Grand Marnier.  It packed quite a sinus-clearing pop, especially that first sip, but we all enjoyed ours, after adjusting.

Pre-Dinner Drinks at the OGB (Old Government Building) Bar

On the Walk to Dinner

King of the Snake Cocktails

It was a very pleasant walk home, though Victoria Gardens, and over the river where they still punt boats.  In fact, that entire area looked as though it has been extracted from Oxford or Cambridge. 

Walking Back to the Hotel