View from Sandymount over the Otago Peninsula. Click for larger version

In March 2015 Nicola presented talks at her alma mater, the University of Otago, in Dunedin and at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. Science nowadays is very much a team sport. So it's good to let other people know what you are up to, and find out what they are doing, always with an eye open for synergies and possible collaborations.

At the same time it was good fun to re-visit Nicola's home town, which we had not seen for 11 years since her mom passed away in 2004. I came along for this trip of the South Island.

Nicola at the lovely campus of the University of Otago

Since Nicola no longer has family in Dunedin, we decided to stay in a hotel and chose the Park Regis right on George Street. The room was huge, clean and quiet, and the only real issues we had were with the Internet, which didn't work quite as expected. The hotel building was one of the countless breath-taking historical buildings Dunedin boasts from the days of the Otago Gold Rush, when Dunedin was awash with money.

Our hotel in Dunedin

Another amazing Dunedin building, now housing a nightclub/massage parlor.

Dunedin Nightclub

On the drive out to Waverley where Nicola's parents had lived, we discovered this new art installation - the Harbour Mouth Molars.

Harbour Mouth Molars

The new owners of the house where Nicola had grown up took out all the trees and bushes along the street and put a veggie garden right along the side walk. They also utilized the entrance area to the fullest by putting a freezer, several rubbish bins, a clothes drying rack, some gas bottles, firewood and other clutter right by the front door. Nicola's mom would not approve!

Nicola's family home - now sold

Nicola's parents passed away within one year of each other in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Nicola and I went to both memorial services in Dunedin, but since they were cremated and there was some debate where the ashes should go, we had not seen the graves. In the end, the family found a lovely spot in the historic cemetery of Broad Bay on the Otago Penisula, which receives a Wikipedia mention:

Broad Bay is situated on the shore of an aptly named wide bay (Broad Bay) and a smaller bay to the north east (Turnbulls Bay); between these lie a short peninsula (on which is sited the settlement's small historic cemetery), which terminates in the steep, finger-like headland of Yellowhead.

View across Broad Bay of the peninsula with the cemetery, which is hidden in the small forest in the center of the image

Grave with Turnbull Bay in the background

View of Yellowhead from the cemetery

The coastal road along the Otago Peninsula offers stunning views all along.

Harbourcone from Portobello

Whatever that huge bus had done down the narrow dirt road that day I will never know!

There are not many days when the water is warm enough in the Otago Harbour that I would want to study these first hand.

Rocky Shore-Guide

About half way along the Otago Harbour is almost cut in half by two islands, Quarantine Island and Goat Island. Initially deep water shipping was only possible up to this barrier, which lead to the foundation of Port Chalmers. When Dunedin boomed due to the Otago Gold Rush and money was no issue, Victoria Channel was dredged to allow more ships to travel all the way down the harbour to Dunedin. Today this channel is kept dredged to 8m, while the modern container port facility at Port Chalmers can accommodate ships up to 12.5m draught, making Port Chalmers once again the main port facility (source).

Port Chalmers

Quarantine Island

Turning towards the center of the Otago Peninsula, there are great vistas of the Otago Harbour despite the rather gloomy weather.

Otago Harbour

With many alternative life-stylers in the area eagerly tending their veggie gardens, I can see how this might be a business idea better than most!

Turning shit into gold - literally!

At Hoopers Inlet the sun broke a little through the clouds, and we got some very neat light on some breathtaking scenery. The green rolling hills with low hanging clouds over the mountains (Mount Charles) make it easy to understand why so many Scotsmen settled in and around Dunedin.

Hoopers Inlet

Eventually we reached Sandymount Lookout.

Sandymount Lookout

The view includes Hoopers Inlet (left, foreground), Papanui Inlet (left, background), and Allans Beach (right).

View from Sandymount

A fairy, round whose brilliant throne
Great towering giants stand.
As if impatient to obey
The dictates of her wand;
Their helmets hidden in the clouds
Their sandals in the spray -
Go, picture this, and then you have
Dunedin from the Bay.
(Thomas Bracken, 1843-1898)

A must on our tour of Dunedin were the botanic gardens - always a favorite with Nicola and her family. The Dunedin botanic gardens are truly remarkable, and we are planning to come back in Spring for the Rhododendrons and Azaleas.

Dunedin Botanic Gardens

We also had a look around St Clair. The city beach is very picturesque with a number of cafes and restaurants along it. I have never been swimming here, but I have been told the water is icy cold even in summer, with nothing but water between here and Antarctica. There is a heated saltwater pool at the end of the beach which I might check out on a future visit.

Dunedin St Clair

Dunedin Surfers

Heated Saltwater Pool

From Dunedin we took our rental car, a rattly Mitsubishi Lancer, up Highway 1 to Christchurch. I had visited Christchurch in 2001 when Nicola also had some business at the University of Canterbury. At the time, I had particularly enjoyed the lively are around the cathedral in the town center, that reminded me a little of Amsterdam's Leidseplein with its cafes, trams, street musicians, jugglers, and all kinds of other street artists. There are some photos of that visit in my Photo.net portfolio.

Of course in the meantime Christchurch has been hit by two major earthquakes, the magnitude 7.1 Canterbury earthquake of 4 September 2010, which caused significant damage to Christchurch but no direct fatalities; and the magnitude 6.3 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, which due to it's shallowness and closeness to the city killed 185 people and caused massive infrastructure destruction. Nicola's brother lives in one of Christchurch's worst affected suburbs, so we knew people in the area didn't have it easy. Yet, I was curious to see how rebuilding in the vastly devastated city center of Christchurch was coming along seeing that it had been 4 years.

Truth be told, I was kind of shocked to see how many building sites are still plain empty - there is an abundance of parking in Christchurch's city center right now - how many buildings were in the process of being broken down on the very day I visited, and how many damaged buildings are still standing untouched awaiting a decision if they will be destroyed of rebuilt. The most prominent example of the latter is the Cathedral itself, which has been deconsecrated and as one of my tram drivers put it, currently serves as an expensive pigeon coop.

Christchurch Cathedral

On the positive side, I found the Wizard still as active and whacky as before - and he had acquired a modern aluminum ladder instead of the shaky wooden old thing he sported in 14 years ago!

Christchurch Wizard

I had a German sausage in the Container Mall. The sausage was excellent and the entire mall really well done. With lots of cafes and tourist shops it made a much more charming place than its humble building blocks would suggest.

Christchurch Container Mall

There is some wonderful graffiti throughout the city. I only grabbed a couple of shots, but with an extra day in Christchurch I might have made it a project to go out and document all of them. Each tram driver seemed to have a favorite and rave on about it.

Christchurch Graffiti

This gives a bit of a glimpse of what the new buildings will look like - steel frame construction and a maximum height of 28m. One of the tram drivers speculated this might come out to 6-7 stories. He also reckoned that most of the work so far has been done below ground, getting the sewer and services like water, gas, broadband, and so on back up and running. From now on people in Christchurch should be able to actually see more rapid progress.

Christchurch New Buildings

The dog kennels in the back of the cars clearly identify the police force here as K9 units, and the barking of the dogs reverberated from the entire building. The tram drivers speculated that they are regularly searching abandoned buildings for squatters.

Christchurch Police

The highlight of my 2015 visit if Christchurch were the quaint old trams that run through the city center. They are definitely more tourist attraction than a solution for urban transport problems, but each of them is unique and lovingly restored. Most come from Christchurch, but others have been added to the collection, eg from Invercargill, and I recount seeing one made in Dunedin, and one made in Philadelphia, USA. The are drivers all seem to be older - some male, some female - all very friendly, talkative, and knowledgeable about the city. I don't know if I simply overlooked the trams on my last visit, and they now stand out more, or if they are a more recent addition. At any rate, they are fun to ride and with a $10 ticket per day you can use them as often as desired to travel from attraction to attraction. At one spot they even run through a shopping mall.

Christchurch Tram

In summary, despite the obvious earthquake damage and the building noise in the city center, don't cross Christchurch off your New Zealand travel list. It is still worth a trip, and is bound to become even more attractive in future.