Another country

Fly into New Zealand from Sydney, landing in Christchurch, major city on the South Island. It's a major contrast after Sydney, not just because of it's vastly smaller size or apparent absence of either people or bustle. It's also because in Feb 2011, following a series of earthquakes and aftershocks, Christchurch was hit by the big one. One hundred and eighty five people lost their lives - that loss marked by a simple but poignant memorial consisting of 185 empty chairs sitting in an abandoned lot - and hundreds more were injured. We arrive four and a half years on and are shocked by the scope and scale of destruction still visible - empty lots where buildings once stood; rows of homes or shops abandoned. The city is fighting back - regeneration and innovation evident across the city - but its going to be slow, costly work, hamstrung by predictable disputes over who pays for what. For the time being, Christchurch remains a ghost town.

After two nights r&r we get on the road again. Collected from our digs by the nice folks from South Pacific motorcycle rentals (an ex-pat couple, Mike and Carole) and driven out of the city to pick up our mount for the next 10 days. Our transport for the next 11 days is a BMW 800 twin (badged, for reasons too silly to go into, the F700GS) The bike looks nice, rides fine, and is apparently called Grace. After half a days riding through already jaw-sagging scenery we arrive at Lake Tekapo, a beautiful alpine village fronting a lake surrounded by towering, snow and cloud capped mountains.

Lake Tekapo sits within a dark skies conservation area, making its nightime skies some of the best in the world to view the stars. Highlight of our short stopover here is a dusk tour up to the top of Mt. John to the University of Canterbury observatory, where as night falls we are treated to star-gazing,  astrophysics, brownies and cocoa.

Move on again next morning, first to Queenstown - a pleasing lakeside town of buzzy shops, bars and restaurants, a magnet for yoof with its emphasis on extreme sports (bungee jumping, white water rafting etc etc) but enough to keep us crumbles smiling too- like the proper beer on offer. next day further south to sleepier Te Anau, which will be our start point for Milford Sound. Everywhere we look, the scenery is jaw-drop beautiful; towering snow capped mountains of the southern Alps; winding, craggy gorges; vast open plains and topaz lakes over a thousand metres deep. There's lots of beautifully coloured lupins growing wild by the roadside too  - Sian particularly fond of them.

Thus far the New Zealand weather has dealt us the kindest of hands - warm (or hot) and sunny each
day since we collected our bike. We would be foolish, I think, to expect the honeymoon to last..