New Zealand, East and South part of the South Island

We leave Singapore on a circuitous route. To save a bit over a thousand dollars, we fly from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (that’s due north), layover there for three hours, and then fly to Melbourne (south again), which is an eight-hour flight, spend 12 hours at an airport motel before finally flying into New Zealand. Well, we took El Cheapo airline for the first two legs (which is why the flights were so much less expensive). The seats didn’t recline, we couldn’t control our air vents, we had to buy everything, including water, and there was no in-flight entertainment. There were two small boys on the flight, who started running around after the first hour. Ethan and Siena decided these would be great kids to play with and spent the next 7 hours doing so. I am starting a new company. I figure if my kids had collected donations from the passengers seated near the boys, we would have made a killing!

Where in the world are Ethan and Siena? They are in the largest city on the South Island of New Zealand. It was settled by the British in the 19th century and retains a very English feel to it. There is a river Avon on which you can go “punting”. There is a school that looks just like Oxford. And, there is a big Anglican church in the center of town, pictured behind the kids, which the city is named after. This is Christchurch.

Although it is the largest city here, it isn’t very big—just over 300,000 people. But, New Zealand, as we find out on our first week, isn’t overly populated. There are only about 4 million people. There are over 40 million sheep, though! We see sheep everywhere. The hillsides are quite literally polka dotted white. We drive passed gorgeous countryside with sheep. We see beautiful farmland, with sheep, long stretches of white sand beaches, with sheep in the foreground, tall snow capped mountains and rocky cliffs, the latter two thankfully with no sheep. We make a zigzag route down the lower island, stopping first at Mount Cook, the highest mountain on the continent. We rent a house on Lake Pukaki, in which the mountain is reflected perfectly. We gather we are quite lucky to see Mt Cook at all as isn’t seen too often; usually it is shrouded in clouds. We learned this from the local tourist information office that had a photograph of the view out their window taped to the window, with a caption reading, “This is what the view looks like on a nice day” implying that nice days were very rare. We were fortunate to have both days here clear. This is the view of the moon rising over the lake from our lodging.

After eating Asian food for 3 months, we are ready for some simple, home cooked meals. The motels here almost all have kitchens in them. We buy the local goods and cook them ourselves. Of course we buy lamb—having past at least a million sheep. The country is also renowned for its seafood. We try local salmon, the local green mussels and the just-in-season Bluff Oysters. All were wonderful, but the oysters were particularly noteworthy. Kim and I have had oysters in the US from the east coast, from New Orleans and Florida, from the Pacific Northwest. We’ve had oysters from Prince Edward Island, Canada and oysters from Scotland, all of which are supposed to be the best oysters in the world. When the waiter informed us that the local oysters are the best, we were understandably skeptical. Well, he was right! These large oysters are less slimy and chewy than oysters usually are (not that those characteristics are necessarily bad in an oyster…). With no grit and a wonderful briny taste, the oysters have us hooked! Paired with the local excellent champagne, Lindauer, they were perfection.

When we first landed here, I wasn’t sure we were going to have a Beattie Beer Index for our first installment. We arrived on Holy Thursday and the national blue laws were in effect. No alcohol could be sold on Friday, Sunday or Monday. And, it was a long drive into town on Saturday. Does anyone know why these are called “blue laws?” I mean, I know we were blue when we learned we couldn’t purchase beer or wine…

There is no single local type of beer. We try New Zealand lagers, pale ales and pilsners. Some are excellent, especially the Summit Ale and the Monteith Radler—a pilsner with a distinct lemon flavor. Unlike the German Radlers or Scottish Shandies, this isn’t diluted with lemonade or soda, but regular strength beer. Some are less noteworthy. The most advertised brand is Speight’s, which I thought was watery. The real disappointment, deep sigh, is the price of the beer, though. It costs around $7 NZ (about $4.20 US) for a pint. But, the bubbly is cheap! We bought a bottle at a restaurant for $22 NZ—that’s about $12.

So, we may raise a glass of sparkling wine instead of beer as we say
Kia Ora (health! In Maori, which isn’t really spoken much here, but is used frequently to be politically correct)
The Beatties