Saturday, 25 October 2025
This morning’s weather was much clearer than we have experienced for the last two days. We packed the car and then dropped the key back at the main building before driving to The Hermitage to find the statue of Sir Edmund Hillary AND, we hoped, to take a clear photo of Aoraki/Mount Cook. We were treated to a reasonably clear view of Mount Cook, but Sir Ed’s statue stands on a closed terrace area outside the Sir Edmund Hillary Café & Bar. Boo! We tried a nearby door but it was locked. We headed inside to the café but it doesn’t open until 10.00am. That’s frustrating.
We went back outside and snapped a couple more photos of Mount Cook with ‘almost’ no cloud. Then, since we had to walk past the statue on the way to the car, tried that door again and … it opened. We were able to exit via another door onto the terrace where we tried to take photos of Sir Ed looking at Mount Cook. It’s a bit of a stretch to frame them in the same shot.
Happy to have seen Mount Cook before our departure, we set off south along Mount Cook road in VERY different weather conditions from our northbound journey. Instead of torrential rain we had blue sky and sunshine, which made for a much less harrowing trip. So, that was a big plus for today but, on the minus side, we were heading towards Christchurch rather than the West Coast (Franz Josef) as per our spreadsheet.
On Friday, after we barely made it through to Mount Cook Village, the weather update posted on RNZ New Zealand / Weather reported that the West Coast was cut off following closures on State Highways amid severe weather. Arthurs and Lewis Passes were both closed, so the two possible routes (State Highways 73 and 7) between Christchurch and Greymouth were closed. We had planned to drive through the Haast Pass (State Highways 6), travelling from Mount Cook Village to Franz Josef via Wanaka and it was also closed.
Well, that WAS the plan. Yesterday morning we decided to cancel our West Coast accommodation because there was too much uncertainty about whether or not we would be able to make it to our motel at Franz Josef. Then we had concerns about IF we did get to Franz Josef and then Greymouth, would we be able to drive north on State Highway 6 via Murchison to Nelson on Tuesday with MORE rain forecast for Monday?? That road was also closed between Murchison and Kawatiri Junction on Friday.
Despite it being Labor Day long weekend here (added degree of difficulty!) Bernie managed to find us a room in Christchurch for Saturday night (cancelled our rooms in Franz Josef and Greymouth), and we will now drive to Nelson via the East Coast through Kaikoura and Blenheim on Sunday. I mean, we HAVE to get to Nelson to contest the Trans Tasman Bolivia Ashes Tournament. Imagine if we had to forfeit because road conditions prevented us from reaching the venue where the games will be played!!?
But first we motored along the Mount Cook Road, on a glorious day with clear views over Lake Pūkaki to Mount Cook. We stopped at ALL the scenic viewpoints and filled our memory cards with images of Mount Cook on a clear day. Our stops included Peter’s Lookout which is considered to be one of the best vantage points across to Aoraki/Mount Cook.
At the bottom of the lake, we purchased some more cold smoked salmon at the salmon shop and photographed Mount Cook AGAIN. We have taken pretty much the same photograph three times now and yet, each image will be very different due to the prevailing weather conditions at the time each shot was taken.
Finally, after yet another photo of That Mountain from the Punatahu Campground viewpoint, the SatNav was set for Christchurch and we were properly underway for the day. We drove straight through Lake Tekapo figuring it would be crazy busy today due to the holiday weekend. We made our first stop at Burkes Pass, which was home to an eclectic mix of old buildings and motor vehicles.
Next stop was for lunch at Fairlie, where we found the Fairlie Bakehouse. The queue was out the door and along the street, so we figured their pies were going to be good. In fact, the queue was so long we were a bit worried about whether there would still be pies by the time we reached the head of the queue. Phew, we made it to the counter before their pies ran out. Fantastic, flaky pastry and really generous filling. After a short walk along the main street of Fairlie looking for the facilities, we may have gone back into the Bakehouse to buy cakes …
Resuming our journey, we turned off onto State Highway 79 to travel through Cattle Valley, Middle Valley, Beautiful Valley and Gapes Valley to Geraldine. With all those valleys the landscape was certainly different from what we had left behind this morning. It was MUCH warmer too and I was overdressed for the sun streaming into the car. Needless to say, I dozed off for a while and completely missed it when we turned left onto State Highway 1 at Rangitata.
From there we re-traced most of our route from nearly three weeks ago, when we made our way south on State Highway 1. Although we did travel a bit more directly to Christchurch, without a detour onto the Banks Peninsula today. Arriving in Christchurch mid-afternoon, we parked the car near Christchurch Cathedral and opposite Victoria Square. We wandered through the gardens in the square where we found statues of Queen Victoria and Captain Cook.
We walked through Cathedral Square where Christchurch Cathedral remains shrouded in scaffolding. They do seem to have made some progress with the reinstatement works since our last visit but, apparently, the cathedral will not re-open until 2030. After our wander around the city centre, we were heading back to the car when we spied a Golden Retriever across the Avon River at the Edmonds Band Rotunda, seemingly on his own and looking for his owner.
Oh, no, what should we do? I wanted to rescue him, Bernie thought we should leave it to a local. A local came along and we pooled our resources to approach the dog and check for tags. Four of us (two women in rescue mode with two partners in roll their eyes mode) were gathered around making a fuss over the dog when a fellow ambled over to say oh, yes, he’s mine, we live just over there but he does wander off if I get distracted. People have called the pound before, but thank you for your concern. Grrr!
Back to the car and off to the Tuscana Motor Lodge. Not quite as exciting a location as we had planned for tonight. However, if we had proceeded to the West Coast, the Haast Pass did not reopen until around 5.00pm this afternoon. Even if we had been able to drive through straight away, which we doubt would have been the case, we would not have arrived at our accommodation until about 8.30pm. Much better to have arrived here mid-afternoon, eat at a reasonable hour and be relaxing in our room well before 8.30pm. It’s disappointing, but we made the right call. And we still have sights to see when we come back to NZ.
We walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner, one we are pretty sure we ate at last time we were in Christchurch! As we walked there, we both thought we recognized the motel we stayed at on our last visit, almost opposite where we are tonight. After dinner we were able to walk back along the part of the Avon River that runs through North Hagley Park, before happening about the Victoria Clock Tower, which was erected by the citizens of Christchurch NZ, in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee of HIM Victoria. A very Victorian antiquity in a contemporary suburban street.
Steps: 12,450 (7.97kms)
