The travel log of Vic and Steve

It really is a privilege to walk around the city of Christchurch mid rebuild while still covered in scars of distruction.  My first visit back was on Saturday, a day before new and significant aftershocks hit.  We were lucky enough to have not lost anyone close to us in the quakes but walking around the city certainly felt overwhelming at the magnitude of the loss of lives and livelihoods.  When I lived in ChCh I struggled to get my bearings when landmarks were in place. Finding what's missing was even harder. The mixture of new, beside condemned but still erect, beside demolished is very strange indeed. In the centre of the city rebirth is evident yet fragmented by what remains. Footpaths are still damaged and closed. Buildings are in varying states of being.  Our first port of call was Chester St East. Shockingly that rundown former row of old student flats are all rebuilt and looking awesome as part of a heritage project. The same can't be said of its surrounds. T...

Southern Field days is an impressive event. Large in scale with a spread of vendors beyond farming - jewellery, clothing, furniture, appliances, cars, spa pools - you name it you could buy it here. We noted the foot traffic was nothing like that of Central or the horrendously busy National Field Days. One major bonus was a fantastic article in the news paper on the first day of Field Days so 80% of people opened their stop with "I saw you in the paper today" - priceless!  With 5 of us on the stall everyone had plenty of time to walk around the event. I loved talking to other vendors of course, Steve wanted to buy every larger machine he saw and dragged me to see lots of cars he also wants to buy, was funny.  Our stand above and the whole Agriculture hall we were in below.  I got sick so missed day 2, and am still suffering from the worst head cold ever so poor Steve is having to do all of our driving this end of the trip.  Food wise Field Days catered really well for...

A shorter drive today to get us to Southland. The wind had dropped in Cromwell and our drive beside Lake Dunstan was quite lovely.  We stopped in Alexandra for a coffee which was ok and gave me the opportunity to buy some shorts for field days.  From here turning onto state highway 90 the environment all changed. The road was patchy and rutted - trucks - and the arid merino Icebreaker country quickly turned into lush green dairy farming countryside. The vehicles changed to farm vehicles, milk tankers and trucks.  Then we struck a remarkable change in weather. Dark clouds followed by rain and gale force winds basically until we got to Invercargil.  Continuing the theme of giant meals Team Flatpak enjoyed a large lunch at Tuatara Cafe - this is Kryten with corn fritters. Quick shop for supplies and off to find a non-licensing trust pub to taste the locally brewed ale. Below is Mike Riversdale enjoying an Invercargil Brewery pint.  Eventually we headed to Riverton ...

We had a leisurely start to the day staying in Ashburton for yummy breakfast at Nosh. If you are ever passing though stop here. Lovely setting, great coffee (supreme) and masses of good food.  From here we headed inland onto those endless straight Canterbury roads emerging for a 2nd coffee stop in Geraldine. The old timer selling his wooden masterpieces in the street told us they get 18-20 buses a day stopping and the town is now a tourist town. Steve fell in love with John Badcock's art work (no we are not driving back that way to pick up a $4k painting).  From Geraldine we travelled through the beautiful McKenzie basin. Stunning. Our plan had been to climb  Mt John to the observatory but seeing the exotic Forrest was actually pine and the temperature clicking up we elected instead to drive up and walk around the circular walkway. Slightly shocked to find a $5 road user charge - luckily they had eftpos - but Oh My God it's worth every cent. Stunning doesn't describe how ...

Why Gore? Most people ask when I say we're heading south. Well Waimumu actually the location of southern field days where the Young Enterprise venture Flatpak I became involved with last year will be exhibiting. Three days of small talk with farmers basically.  We set off on a overcast morning to cross the Cook straight on the Bluebridge ferry. Big tip. There is a movie theatre and if you're not a great sea traveller, like myself, this is a quiet comfortable space to spend the rougher part of the journey. We watched a documentary on Sir Edmund Hilary's Mt Everest climb which was great.  Still Waitangi Day on the other side of the planet we enjoyed some fun Skype conversations with Don and Sophie while showing them the beautiful sounds.  With our car full of Flatpak stock we drove south stopping in Blenheim for brunch, saw loads of tourists seal spotting along the Kaikoira coastline - beaut blustery weather when we stopped there.  We delivered the Flatpaks to Emily's ...