Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Round The World 2004
Onwards to Christchurch
I got up at 0715 and had a cooked breakfast from the hotel's buffet selection. It was a foul morning in Queenstown - cool, leaden skies, windy - and it started to rain while I was eating. As soon as breakfast was finished, I got myself organised, got the car loaded and hit the road. I had not been travelling for long when the weather cleared up very nicely, but with the unfortunate effect that I was dressed a bit too warmly for the new conditions.
Today was to be a fairly solid day's driving, but
the consolation was that conditions were good and the route, for the
most part anyway, was very scenic. I played all five of the
Beethoven Piano Concertos, including the great 'Emperor', one of my
all-time favourite pieces of music. Now all I need is a chance to
cycle through the nine symphonies, which I also have with me
The first 70-80% of the drive was
very enjoyable, showing me many different faces of the New Zealand
landscape. The standard of driving on the country roads tends to be
better as well, with slower drivers usually extending others the
courtesy of allowing them to pass. Once I joined the fairly busy
Route 1, both the scenery and the driving deteriorated and I could
easily have allowed myself to become annoyed again at all the
'wandering' of far too many cars : left tyres on the shoulder, back
between the lines again, right tyres hanging over the centre line,
lurching out of the way of oncoming traffic ... give me strength
Eventually I was in Christchurch itself and,
thanks to a very friendly and helpful antique shop owner
, it didn't take me too long to locate the hotel. I decided to save
further exploration of the city for the following day.
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Lindis Pass |
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Lake Pukaki - amazing colour, amazing high winds! |
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Lunch stop in Fairlie - everything for the tourist. Ostrich, anyone? |