Holiday: Day 20 – Blue Skies to Christchurch!

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5.45am: Hi, all you dedicated Readers! – thanks for your readership and regular comments! 👍 It’s been a real push to publish these each day, but I’m enjoying the challenge. Today, it’s a super early one as we prepare for another long drive south.

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It’s hard to believe that we’re now two-thirds of the way through our adventure here in New Zealand, but there’s still plenty left to see and enjoy! 👍

Day 20 – Where are we?
(Monday, 18th November)

7.47am: Bye-bye Picton! We’re going to miss you and wish we had spent longer enjoying the area. Your Marina was GEORGEOUS! 👏👏 but sorry that I didn’t get to use the Gym at the property. 😂😂. What we won’t miss is the rather cool morning temperature – as we left, the thermometer registered just 7℃! 🥶🥶

Our next stop will be Christchurch. It’s another long one – some FOUR hours and a bit, covering around 330km/200 miles. We’re taking the now-familiar ‘State Highway 1’ aka the ‘SH1’ for most of the journey, that in places will hug the coast. When we get to our destination, we’re staying over for a couple of nights to take in the sights and sounds of the City. More about that later! 👍👍

As usual, we carved up the driving responsibilities. I took the wheel first, then Ann, around two hours in, finishing with me again, as we cruised into Christchurch. We made the journey more enjoyable by stopping off at some well-known viewing points along the way. Stop 1 in Kaiköura, roughly halfway along this coastal route and then, Stop 2 in Cathedral Cliffs, about an hour later.

Factoring in the above stops, we aimed for about a 1.30pm arrival, plus shopping time – so we should be in our next Apartment in Christchurch by 2pm (ish).

Today would turn out to be one of the best days so far for exceptional views! 👍

TODAY’S TRIVIA: General Elections are conducted every three years in New Zealand

The Road to Kaikōura

Weather-wise, this was a very pleasant drive. It was probably the FIRST day where we had a truly blue sky with zero cloud. As usual, there was hardly any other vehicles on the road.

9.02am: As if it couldn’t get any better, around an hour into our journey, we caught sight ahead of the east coast…

…and that’s how it stayed for a while, before switching to spectacular views of the mountains for the first leg of our journey. Bright blue sea and cool dark mountains (and often BOTH!) was a real tonic to the first part of this long journey.

Stop 1 – Kaikōura

9.48am: It had now been about two hours since we left, and I was pleased to be taking a break as we pulled into the official spot for sighting Whales (and/or parting with your cash to go out on a boat to do the same).

Kaiköura is ideally placed as it’s right on the coast. The Whale Watching opportunity here was as popular as ever, judging by the queues waiting for a Boat. As many of you know, my track record is poor, having NEVER seen a Whale in the flesh… ever… anywhere! Maybe today would be my lucky day? But maybe it’s the wrong time of year – I’m sure it’s nothing personal! 😉

We looked out to sea, scanning left to right and back again, for a while. But wait, what’s that in the distance..? Maybe??? 😉

10.25am: Nope! Looks like my unlucky streak remains unbroken. Maybe next time, for now, it was time to move on.

TODAY’S TRIVIA: 50% of all dolphins and whales in the world are found in New Zealand

10.30am: We continued on the SH1 through Oaro, Hundalee, Hawkswood and Cheviot as the sky got bluer and the day got warmer – it was now 17℃! 😎😎

It might have been a delightful view, but the road conditions was certainly varied. Mostly smooth and straight, but just when driving was starting to feel like second-nature, along came the twisty bits along with the steep inclines and descents. For those who might follow us, take care out there – some of these stretches require a lot of concentration. 😲

A Surprise Stop!

11.25am: In a change to the advertised programme, we stumbled upon ‘Buxton Reserve‘. No, disappointingly, not a specialist wine, but an area near Gore Bay that we suspected might give us a spectacular view out to sea…

What do you think? 🤔 ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

…and a little further on… more of the same… 👍👏

Wow! That was going to take some beating! A quarter-of-an-hour later, we thought we’d found it… Cathedral Cliffs.

Stop 2 – Cathedral Cliffs

11.40am: We stopped off at our final pitstop. Cathedral Cliffs. It’s a viewing point and overlooks an impressive series of rock pillars formed by natural erosion by rainwater of the soft rock in the area.

Again, the view was impressive. 😲

12.03pm: Back on the road, as we passed through Domett and Greta Valley, Glasnevin and Waikuku, we realised that Christchurch was now only just over 90 minutes away. One thing we noticed: Vineyards were back! As large as ever! 🍇🍇

Even more blue sky now and the temperature was up to 22℃. 😎☀️🌞

1.02pm: We were now getting close to Christchurch. The SH1 officially became a ‘motorway’ (meaning TWO permanent lanes, but as smooth as ever).

Hello Christchurch!

1.28pm: We’re finally here, but now we had to find our accommodation AND also do some food shopping. Woolworth’s out here would probably be our first choice, but for sheer size and range, it has to be PAK’n’SAVE. These places are absolutely huge and once inside, it feels like wandering around your favourite supermarket – but at about 100 times the size. They are beyond MASSIVE, and clearly very popular.

2.16pm: After 347km (215 miles-or-so) later, we finally arrived at Central City Apartments in the Atlas Quarter here in Christchurch. We’re here for a couple of nights. Phew! 🥱🥱. It was a warm 24℃ (defying the earlier forecast) but was blowing a real gale. We parked the car nearby and headed for all-important keybox where our front-door key was waiting.

Central City Apartments – Apartment 106

This is VERY nice! We’re here for two days, and we’re going to make the most of this City. There’s a tram ride, a Cathedral and also their Botanical Gardens to consider and I’m sure we’ll find something to occupy us!? 😉

As I mentioned in my first Post for this holiday, forget burgers or pizzas or kebabs, New Zealand is better known for its range of pies! So, in the spirit of research (so you don’t have to) we’re attempting to see what they’re like! 😋😋. Tonight it was ‘Steak and Cheese’ (a very popular flavour here) and it was delicious! 👍👍

Driving in New Zealand – The SH1 from Picton to Christchurch (347km/215 miles)

Road Name: SH1
Condition: Smooth roads
Lanes: Mostly single but with passing points. Last 30 minutes, the road becomes a Motorway with two permanent lanes. Once in the city, there was a lot of traffic AND roadworks
Terrain: Long stretches of open road but with steep inclines and declines (twisty too!)
Scenery: Mountains, Trees, Views out to the ocean, A lot of sheep, fewer cattle
Filling Stations: Five in total, but mostly in the towns
Roadworks: Minimal
Driver Courtesy: All good!
Speed Limits: Pretty much all the speeds from 50kph up to 110kph
Police/Speed cameras: None seen/None seen
Total distance today: 347 kilometres/215 miles
Total distance driven so far in rental car: 1691km/1050 miles

Tomorrow, it’s a day of exploration as we take a trip around Christchurch! Nighty-night! See you Tuesday! 👍