From Forest Cathedral to Christchurch

This morning in Rotorua, we woke early to clean up and get breakfast, do our laundry and prepare to leave for the airport by Noon. Just outside our window was a beautiful little courtyard filled with the wonderful ferns they have here in all sizes from ground cover to full-size trees. It’s like having a bit of the rainforest on the hotel grounds.


In an effort to try something new each day, we tried a taste of what they call “Justmite” or vegemite on our buttered toast. It’s a black spread. The label says it’s a yeast extract product. It seemed to have almost no flavor and falls into the category of “once tried, no need to have it again.” The rest of breakfast was dependably generous and filling.

Mike took a walk near the hotel to take pictures of the lake and a park area while I finished up our laundry. Then Pat and I walked over to the park where there are old bath houses, now turned into museums. The entire area has vents and mud pools here and there and a sign or two warning of hydrogen sulfide. Side by side with this are gardens and croquet lawns and an outdoor bowling green where they play something like bocce.

On our way to Rotorua’s airport to take our flight to Christchurch, we made one last stop. We took a short walk in a redwood forest that is more than a hundred years old, dedicated to the memory New Zealand’s fallen soldiers. The paths in the forest are amazingly soft underfoot, almost like cork. It’s a very popular running and walking path.

Being among those trees that soar overhead to more than 150 feet creates a cathedral effect. We all felt the almost holy effect of this special place. It was a nice way to leave Rotorua behind us.

Rotorua’s airport is now an international one because Air New Zealand flies from there to Sydney. It’s quite small and has no jetways. We walked across the tarmac to our plane and climbed the stairs. In less than two hours, we were touching down in Christchurch at a much larger airport, still deplaning directly to the tarmac, though.

On the way to our hotel, we took a brief coach tour of the city with a stop at the Canterbury Museum. It includes an array of artifacts from the city’s history, as well as a Maori heritage exhibit and a street of shops representing Christchurch’s history. We could have spent hours there, but didn’t have the time to spare. The Botanical Gardens are next door and, again, we had less time than would be required to fully appreciate the wonders of that spot.

Christchurch is, our guide Leigh says, “the most English city in New Zealand.” It is set on the Canterbury coastal plain with mountains in the distance. As I write this in our eleventh floor hotel room, I can see a beautiful pink sky over the mountains as the sun sets to the west. We’re just back from a walk around the charming downtown area, including a return along paths next to the River Avon where punters pole their way through the city, taking passengers beneath old willows that hang over the stream and under a series of bridges.

There’s a plaque in a park along the way that tells of a Frenchman who brought here cuttings from the willows at Napoleon Bonaparte’s grave on the island of St. Helena. It is believed that these willows are descended from those. It’s a great story, whether it’s true or not.

Cathedral Square is the heart of the city, including, of course, a beautiful bluestone sanctuary of the Church of England. (If you’re not familiar with the term “bluestone,” as I was not, it’s the look of Oxford University buildings.) There’s an eclectic mix of architecture throughout the city from the ornate and colorful buildings that have been here for many years to the modern high rises like our hotel. Throughout the city there are parks of all sizes, statues and plazas, benches and plantings. As we walked in this gloriously temperate evening, people were out and about, enjoying the city as we were.

We’ve now had a fantastic dinner in the lobby restaurant. Included in our tour many nights are dinners that offer an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert from the menu. This night every course was right on target, finishing with desserts that we’ll be walking off for days to come. Scrumptious! In addition to truly delicious and well-prepared food, we had the pleasure of a pianist who played beautifully for the entire two hours we were in the restaurant.

It’s time for bed. We’ll be up very early tomorrow to take a 7:45 morning train on our way to the Franz Josef Glacier. After a long day with sensory overload, once again we’ll sleep like babies.