Tuesday, 4 November 2025
The last full day of our holiday. We left Hanmer Springs just after 8.30am to retrace our drive along State Highway 7A to the intersection with State Highway 7, where we had the choice of driving to the West or Nelson or to the East and Christchurch. Bernie turned the Car left towards Culverden.
The scenery was more of the same. Rolling green hills with sheep, cows, and occasionally deer, grazing. The fields were well equipped with water tractors that were operating this morning to water the paddocks to ensure plenty of lush, green grass for the stock. Maybe because it was so same, same, I struggled to stay awake. Yes, I know, I’ve only just had a full night’s sleep. Maybe not a full eight hours, but at least seven hours. That should be enough, right??!
Bernie woke me up to travel through the Weka Pass where we saw signs for the Weka Pass Historic Railway. The only infrastructure we saw from the road was one very dilapidated shed, half hidden behind a cutting. Signs in Waipara, where we rejoined State Highway 1, seemed to indicate that the line does operate a tourist service but we didn’t investigate further.
Now back on the main highway heading south, which we drove heading north on the Sunday before last, the scenery WAS exactly the same as we had seen nine days ago, so I pretty much slept all the way back to Christchurch, clutching a pack of cards in my hands. So much for my game of Patience keeping me awake. I think I need to talk with my doctor about this narcoleptic tendency in case she has any suggestions to keep me awake … or thinks it needs investigation in case it’s a symptom of some underlying medical condition??
We parked in downtown Christchurch and walked across to the Bridge of Remembrance, which was built over the Avon river in 1923 and incorporates a triple arch to commemorate the soldiers of Canterbury who fought overseas during the First World War. The bridge is also a memorial to the servicemen and women of later conflicts in WWII, Korea, Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam.
The bridge was refurbished in two phases between 1989 and 1992, with a commemorative plaque dedication ceremony taking place On 21 June 1992. The Bridge of Remembrance then suffered structural damage in the earthquake on 22 February 2011. Earthquake strengthening and repairs commenced in May 2013 and were completed in September 2015. The reinforcement works mean that the arch will rock rather than twist in any future earthquakes.
In the nearby Park of Remembrance we found a sculpture called ‘Erratic’ by an artist who shares a name with a friend of ours which was a quirky coincidence. We checked the interpretative board to discover that the artist and our friend are definitely not the same person. Our friend is more a musician/singer than a sculptor. Artistic, but not in the same way as the creator of this piece, who ruminated on the very nature of memorials during its creation and how only select elements of history are seen as worth memorialising, in particular at the expense of indigenous expertise used by European explorers.
We found our way to the old University of Canterbury buildings on Worcester Boulevard. When we visited in 2022, we ventured into Rutherford’s Den just minutes before it was due to close, so we certainly had a very rushed visit. We decided to return today to have a more leisurely look. First though, a recap on the university’s history. It was founded in 1873 with most of the university’s original buildings constructed in the neo-gothic style. The University of Canterbury is also notable for having admitted female students from its foundation. Since 1975 the university operates its main campus in the Christchurch suburb of Ilam and the original buildings have been re-purposed as the Christchurch Arts Centre.
The old university buildings were extensively damaged by the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Most buildings are in use again, but the buildings that were used by the engineering faculty remain shored up with external steel braces. Reading the board on the hoarding outside these building, we leant that the insurance money has run out without these buildings being able to be restored. Further work is dependent on money from the government and/or donations. The work that has been done is considered sufficient to ‘hold’ the buildings for 25 years, with the interpretative board suggesting that it may be up to a future generation to finish the job of restoring these last two buildings of the old university. Fingers crossed that it becomes possible for restorations to take place sooner than that.
With plenty of time this morning we were able to descend to Rutherford’s Den in the basement of the Clocktower for a more detailed look that we managed last time. The ‘den’ is the actual room where Ernest Rutherford, considered to be the father of nuclear physics, studied and conducted his early experiments. Born in Nelson, Rutherford was the son of a flax farmer who won a scholarship to study at Canterbury University and later at Cambridge in England, where he went on to discover the atomic nucleus, protons, alpha and beta radiation, the concept of radioactive half life and performed the first artificial nuclear reaction.
From Rutherford’s Den we ventured into the Great Hall. The hall features a magnificent stained glass memorial window by Englishman, Martin Travers. The window features many famous historical figures. My eye was caught by a naval gentlemen, front and centre. I said to Bernie, looking over to the key to the illustration, No.19 MUST be Captain Cook. Yes, it was and the illustration also featured his ship, HMS Resolution. Another farmer’s son who did well for himself.
We lunched at the Quad Eatery at the arts centre, before wandering around the corner to Ravenscar House Museum. For more than 25 years from the early 1990s, Susan and Jim Wakefield acquired an eclectic collection of paintings, decorative arts, furniture and antiquities. These were displayed for more than a decade at Ravenscar House, their stunning home on Whitewash Head in the Christchurch coastal suburb of Scarborough.
The 2010/11 Canterbury earthquakes destroyed their beloved home, but the collection largely survived. The Wakefield’s experienced great joy through their collecting and dreamed one say they would share their house and collection with the people of Christchurch and Canterbury.
Unable to realise their vision to share the collection in its original domestic setting, and prevented from rebuilding on the site, the Ravenscar House Museum was built. The museum recreates the rooms from the house, and the collections once displayed in each room, in a contemporary museum space. The collections were indeed eclectic. We particularly liked some of the glassware pieces they had collected and the bedroom suite that they commissioned from David Linley, cousin to King Charles III. Known professionally as furniture make David Linley, he is actually David Albert Charles Armstrong-Jones, the only son of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones. Also known as the 2nd Earl of Snowden and Viscount Linley. That’s some furniture with some serious connections!
We wandered back to the car and set the SatNav for the Novotel Hotel at the airport. It’s a 9.7 kilometre drive and takes around 20 minutes to complete. I managed to sleep for most of the journey. Yes, seriously! It’s a huge problem.
After checking in we cleared all our stuff from the car and ferried it up to our room on one of the hotel’s luggage trolleys. So much gear sprawled out all over the rear of the car. That will have to be wrangled back into two suitcases and two carry-on bags … later. But first a cup of tea and some chocolate for me while Bernie dropped the car back to Ezi Car Rentals with an extra 3,871.5 kilometres on the odometer.
Dinner tonight was in the hotel restaurant since we have relinquished the hire car and have no way to venture out for other fare. It was a delicious meal, if a little pricey. That’s the cost of convenience. We have a very early flight in the morning, so wanted to drop the car off today, and stay close to the airport, to make life a little bit easier tomorrow. We fly at 6.05am. GROAN! Bernie has checked us in online and we are aiming to be at the terminal to drop our bags about 4.00am!! We’ll eat and sleep on the flight, ha,ha.
Now to wrestle all my stuff back into my suitcase before trying to get an early night.
Steps: 6,183 (3.88kms)
Queenstwon?
oops