White Water Rafting in Queenstown

The first morning in Queenstown, my friend Gavin and I went to book the rafting at Queenstown Rafting retail centre. We’re given 2 selections to pick, either do it in Shotover River or Kawarau River. The differences are mainly the grade of excitement and the duration. For Kawarau River rafting, it is 2-3 grade rafting and it’ll take 4 hours to complete. As for the Shotover, it is 3-5 grade rafting and it’ll spend about half day. Of course, we choose the rafting in Shotover River since I failed to experience it on my previous visit. We paid $165 each and booked the 1.15 pm route. Yes! This time we eventually got it!


We returned to the retail centre in the afternoon and ready to be picked up by a coach leaving from the downtown. Together with others, we boarded the coach and on an awesome trip traverse the rocky Skippers Canyon. But before we came to the river, we’re sent to a hub to equip ourselves with wetsuit, booties, helmet, both spray and life jackets.


Now we’re at the riverside. All of us were arranged into 4 boats and there's a guide on each boat. After a full safety briefing and instruction were given, we all together put in the boats to the river and our rafting journey started.


Woo…hoo...holding the paddles, we’re excited to raft the river according to the command given by the guide. The water was cold but we had fun. We seemed relaxed and enjoyed the natural surroundings traverse the Red Rocks and Rock Garden section. Conversely, we’re shocked when reached the nerve-wracking rapids of rafting, expressly passed through the Oxenbridge Tunnel! Wow! Extremely excited. Lastly we truly had an adventurous day!

Second Road Trip to Queenstown on Spring

I had no luck to experience the rafting adventure in Queenstown during my first visit on late autumn. The rafting company claimed that there’s road inaccessibility caused by snow issue. As a result, all the regular road trips for rafting activities were cancelled remaining the helicopter option. To save cost, I gave up for the time being.


Hot air ballooning was the other adventure that I wished to experience all along. In fact, balloon flights are available and popular in Christchurch and Methven. Unfortunately, I was unable to try it in both places although they're closed to Asburton where I stayed. The bookings of the activity were cancelled by the authorities owing to the bad weathers :(


Due to the happenings, I decided to revisit Queenstown for both adventures when winter was finally over. My housemate Gavin joined me for my second trip to Queenstown leaving from Ashburton. We drove on the State Highway 1 and turned into State Highway 79 (Geraldine-Fairlie Hwy) instead of following the East Coast. Then we drove forward into State Highway 8 and 6 passed through Cromwell and Frankton. We took about 6 hour drive with some breaks in between.


In the middle of the journey, we experienced an unfamiliar scenario. It was spring, but it’s snowing deeply like in winter. Outside the car, we saw everything is covered with thick snows; the sky was cloudy but sometimes it was sunny.

We’re delayed awhile due to the traffic roadblock but we’re excited instead to make the most of it by taking pictures on the road. The snowy panoramas were striking indeed.

Akaroa, A French Town

Most of my housemates in Ashburton got a car and one advantage staying with them was I could do traveling with them simply by their car. During winter and spring, I occasionally went to visit places outside Ashburton. One of the short trips I made with my housemate was traveling to Akaroa. My friend Park, he picked me up after I got off work and we traveled at night. We stayed overnight in a nice accommodation and spent morning to afternoon hours exploring the little town and surroundings.

It’s photo shooting time in the morning, apart from the heart of Akaroa...

Akaroa Harbour view from top, look like twin lakes

Akaroa is also known as French colonial village or French town owing to the establishment by the French settlers and it’s the only French colony in New Zealand. These days, the village still has a reflection of French such as shown at the street signs and heritage buildings.


Nesting on Banks Peninsula with the scenic harbour, Akaroa becomes a popular resort town with a laid-back atmosphere. Joining the boat tours for Hector’s dolphin watching is a main tourist activity in the village.

A war memorial in the garden of Akaroa

Unique shops in the village

Akaroa harbour

Another perspective of the harbour

Visitors were boarding the boat for dolphin watching

We had a leisurely walk through the cafes, shops and galleries in the town. Next, we moved on to the Historic Village Walk for a visit to the lighthouse, churches and some old buildings.


Akaroa Head Lighthouse



Buildings along the waterfront

St Patrick's Church

The trip in Akaroa was laid-back and offered us some memories to cherish.

A Road Trip to Arthur's Pass National Park

Since there're not many activities could do in Ashburton town, I joined my housemate Gavin for a day trip to Arthur Pass on one of our days off.

I initially wished to experience the Tranz Alpine scenic trains to Arthuss Pass from Christchurch. I saw a great deal on television about the discount of the trains on winter. However, Gavin took the train previously on summer and he told me that’s nothing. Hence, he persuaded me better to take a road trip on ourselves. By driving, at least we could stop by anywhere we wanted and there’re more scenic views could be enjoyed. Latterly, we started our journey from Ashburton by his car.  

Interestingly, a coincidence happened on the drive when sheep herding at opposite blocking the car. But then we’re happy to stop and wait meanwhile watching the front coming sheep unexpectedly :D

When he’s driving along the State Highway 1 and 73, I took plenty of scenic photos from the window of his car and we saw gorgeous mountain background most of the time. We occasionally stopped off at some recreation areas before we reached the Arthur’s Pass village.

Taking more than regular driving hours, we finally reached the site. Arthur’ Pass National Park is a heaven for adventurous skiers and mountain climbers. It offers beautiful mountains for them to explore.

Mountains at Arthur's Pass

But we’re not truly mountain lovers, so we rather took some short walks around the village. The popular walk is to Devil’s Punchbowl Falls and nearby Arthur’s Pass Chapel. It took an hour for round trip. In the church, we saw the waterfall visibly from the window.     

Waterfall sightseeing from the church

At the village, we also grabbed the opportunity to see the TranzAlpine train that passing the railway only once a day.   

  

TransAlpine Express passing the railway at Arthur's Pass 

Next, we moved to see the magnificent Castle Hill. There’s countless limestone rocks formed at the site.  

Castle Hill

A cottage with Castle Hill as backdrop

Many limestone rocks formed on the hill

At Arthur’s Pass village, we met my housemate’s friend by chance. From the conversation, we noticed that she missed the TranzAlpine train back to Christchurch. As a result, we went to Christchurch and sent her back before we arrived in Ashburton again at night.

Ashburton Town

Ashburton belongs to Canterbury Region and it’s sited on the State Highway 1. This large town is primarily a farming district. Lies between the Rakaia and Rangitata Rivers, Ashburton offers fly fishing as an activity for visitors. In fact, it’s only 86km away from Christchurch and that’s not far for us to take round trip to Christchurch on days off. Nonetheless, I occasionally prefer to hang around in Ashburton to enjoy the calming atmosphere it offered.   

 Some photos taken in the  downtown while staying there...





 Landmark clock tower in the downtown

Methodist Church



Town's sculpture of 'LOVE ME TENDER' by Llew Summers 1994



Memorial statue outside the Ashburton Council Chambers

St Stephen's Anglican Church

A recretional walkway along the main street opposite the retails shops 

Countdown supermarket

I had never visited the Ashburton Domain until the last day before my leaving. Sceneries of colourful flowers and ducks swimming in the pond were captured by my camera.

The Happiest Lodging with Housemates

Instead of staying in a backpacker hostel, I had an opportunity to stay in a nice rented house with lovely housemates while in Ashburton. All of us are coworkers. Although the job we involved was somewhat tedious, we enjoyed the moment back to home after work.

The lovely house we stayed



Backyard of the house

We used to cook dinner together, shared each other's meals, had talks and laughter over dinner. Perhaps it’s due to the condition that staying in the town where entertainments are limited, we’re more cherished the moment hung around in the house together, even just for movie watching or cooking. We also often had some parties at home. I tried many delicious food cooked by my housemates. Again, I was lucky because I stayed with great chefs. Meanwhile, I was so shamed for my inability to cook as great as them   : l

Although Ashburton is not a resort town and don't seem interesting to most of the travellers or backpackers, it's truly a lovely place for me to stay the longest in New Zealand, unbelievable! I believe this is largely due to the atmosphere of the house and people I stayed with.

In conclusion, I had an enjoyable moment staying in Ashburton, owing to them.