Cook Strait, The Marlbough and Earthquake Devastation

Sunday morning saw us out of the sack early with bags out and breakfast at 7am and on the coach to catch the ferry to the South Island by 8am. We boarded the ferry and had a small area on deck 8 put aside for us. We settled in and Brian departed right on the schedule time of 9am. It was fully booked and there were passengers everywhere. It took just on 3 hours to reach Picton on the South Island and the coach with our full contingent drove off by about 12.30.

Picton is in the Marlborough region which stretches about 25kms down to Blenheim and also westward some distance. Vineyards are everywhere as we cruised down the highway to Blenheim. The weather was again sunny and warm and the drive promised to be quite scenic as we went along the east coast.

Sometime after we passed Blenheim, we started to see the results of an earthquake that occurred just over 14 months ago. The coastline was dotted with damage as were the train line, roads, hilltops and various buildings. The road was only reopened in November, 1 year and 1 day after it was badly hit and destroyed in places. There is still heaps of works going on restoring the roadsides and rail lines, bridges and shoring up areas that have dropped and are causing erosion. Crews were working on this Sunday and apparently, the highway is closed every night as the works continue.

The coastline is still great to see and down to and past Kaikoura, about 2.5 hrs from Picton, seals in huge numbers frolic on the rocks and in the water. We had a comfort stop at Kaikoura, a coastal town famed for its crayfish and set out on the final leg today to Christchurch. We reached the hotel George at about 6pm and it was a welcome relief after about 5 hours on the coach.

The George is on the edge of the CBD and a really nice place. It’s probably under 10 years old and some of the room functions take a bit of working out. For example, the light switches are all electronic and are activated by sliding a finger along a snazzy looking set of switches.

The service and friendliness of the staff is exceptional and efficient. We had a cleanser or 2 in the bar (Steinlager Pure and then Peroni and a Marlborough Sav Blanc) before adjourning to the restaurant where I reckon I had as good a meal as I can remember. It was lamb served on a risotto and it was sensational. The other choice was fish of the day and it looked ok but we were happy we chose the lamb. It wasn’t a late night and I think we weren’t the last to leave. But not too

many were left after a long day. Tomorrow no bags out and the coach pickup is 9.30am so a wee sleep in is on the cards.