Oakura to Paritutu

We walked on the beach from Oakura to New Plymouth.  The New Plymouth Municipal Council organizes summer walks and treks for the community.  This walk took place at low tide.  We were bussed out to Oakura and then we walked back along the beach to Paritutu Rock where we got back to our car.  

This is a Portugese jellyfish which is to be avoided. A sting is very painful. Do not touch!

We came upon a whale carcass on our walk!  What a stench!  Then we found a number of bones close by.  This is a whale rib bone-pretty cool.  

I think this is a whale digit? Phalanx?

Whale vertebrae!

Cool mosses on the cliffs.

Layering of various volcanic deposits.  I wish i knew more about geology. 

Whitecliffs

We hiked along the Whitecliffs walkway and then down to the beach.  The cliffs were beautiful.  And we finally had a weekend day without rain for this hike.  

 We met a sleepy seal and a nice German couple, Felix and Pauline who we invited over to dinner.  Every hike we have been on, there is at least one German who we meet along the way.

 Low tide on the beach.  It is so fun to be by the ocean and watch the landscape change with the tides.

 Whitecliffs beach all to ourselves!  There are so many perfect beaches here. 

Christchurch

While waiting to fly back to the North Island, we spent a night in Christchurch. Christchurch was hit by a massive earthquake in 2010, damaging the central city and suburbs. The Christchurch cathedral in Cathedral Square (pictured below) is a perfect example of the terrible destruction. We found that though it had been years since the earthquake, the city was quite deserted. We did see a restaurant inside a moving cable car, though, which we found quite cool.

Various artists have worked on installations to fill in the large empty spaces throughout the downtown where there was a lot of destruction.  These artist projects are really wonderful in helping one feel hopeful for the rebuilding.  Hooray for artists!!  

 All photos by Maya Patel

Coastal Pathway

The town that we are staying in, New Plymouth, has a wonderful coastal walkway that stretches 11km of the ocean coast, past beaches and the one and only wind wand (pictured below; it's the tall red bendy pole). The pathway finishes at the Te Rewa Rewa bridge (pictured at the bottom)

South Island Day 8 & 9

The Fox Glacier (Te Moeka o Tuawe in Maori) has shrunk 300 metres over the last year. We didn't get to see very much of it, because now you need to walk quite a ways to be able to see it.

In the picture below you can see the vegetation line where the glacier used to be. 

After driving 8 hours (with a break at the glacier) we made it to the pancake rocks!