Week 13 – Christchurch, Dunedin, the Otago Peninsula and the Catlins rainforest

Flying back into Christchurch last week, I was reminded of how much I enjoy spending time here. It is my third time in 16 years visiting New Zealand and I love it more than ever.

Christchurch

Christchurch is a city that’s still recovering from the huge earthquake that hit the city in February 2011. I last was there in 2005, and returning in 2016 I could barely recognise the place. The city centre was devastated by the quake and one of the main buildings, the cathedral, had it’s spire toppled and is still in a state of ruin. I was surprised how long the recovery work is taking, but it is happening slowly, the whole city is a building site.

The resilience of the people however is amazing, and chatting to them you see that they have optimism that the future is bright. They have created a temporary shopping centre made out of shipping containers which was pretty cool and even built a temporary cathedral made predominately out of cardboard!

The old city is still there is in parts though, the River Avon still flows lazily through the city, and you can still be punted along, it kind of reminded me of the city where I was born, Stratford Upon Avon.

Dunedin and the Otago peninsula

After I left Christchurch, I headed south to Dunedin. Dunedin translates as ‘Edinburgh of the south’ in Gaelic, and it certainly does feel very Scottish. Lots of Scottish place names and British looking buildings. Lots of the south of New Zealand was settled by the Scots, including the other city here, Invercargill.

One of the architectural highlights of the city is the railway station, photo below. It also a great art gallery, a great vegetarian cafe called ‘Pou Pourri’ and I also found a fantastic second hand bookshop called ‘Dead Souls’!

I then headed off on a drive around the Otago peninsula, just outside the city. It takes about two hours to drive around, and it is definitely worth it. I got up very close and personal with some sunbathing seals, spotted an albatross soaring in the sky above me and saw some dramatic seascapes, cliffs and rolling hills too. Oh and I also saw a rare yellow-eyed penguin. There are only 6,000 in the world, so that was a good spot I thought!

The Catlins rainforest

The Catlins sit between Dundein and Invercargill. I don’t think many people know about the area. It is very remote and very beautiful. I saw some stunning waterfalls, remote and empty white sand beaches, three hawks swoop past my car, fields and fields of amazing wildflowers and much more.

Invercargill and Bluff

Invercargill is probably even more Scottish feeling than Dunedin. I spent the night here, and it was blowing a gale when I arrived, so it felt even more than Scottish than I had anticipated!

I drove south to a small town called Bluff. This is the most southerly settlement in the country and probably one of the most southerly places in the world. I arrived there on 11 December 2106, exactly three months since I flew out of London to begin my trip, so it felt a fitting place to mark the milestone. From here on in, the only way is north….