Our ship anchored at Akaroa, a small picturesque harbour
about one and a half hours from Christchurch. A year ago, the ship would have
anchored at Lyttelton, a short drive from Christchurch. Unfortunately, last
February, Lyttleton was the epicentre of the earthquake that destroyed much of
Christchurch and most of the harbour disappeared.
Akaroa has a history that dates back to 1770 when Captain
Cook visited the area. The sheltered
harbour soon attracted shipping from most European countries. The British made a treaty with the local
Maori population and New Zealand became a British colony. Interestingly, the British beat the French,
who were also interested in establishing a French colony, by three days. The
French settled the area, under British control, establishing a town maintaining
a French culture (e.g., all the street are “rue” and there is a “gendarmerie”
rather than a police station).
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| Akaroa Harbour |
Gail went on a trip to Christchurch to meet friends,
Diana and Ron, who we got to know on our Tahiti cruise. Diana picked Gail up in Christchurch. After a pleasant lunch out and a tour of
their Anglican church, a beautiful wooden structure that miraculously survived
the earthquake, they went to Diana and Ron’s home. Diana is also an accomplished artist and the two of them
had lots to share. On her tour of Christchurch,
Gail got to see a lot of the earthquake devastation first-hand. Much of the city looks like a war zone, yet there are
many attractive parks and pleasant areas.
Most of the deconstruction of unstable buildings is still to be done and
many of the damaged homes still need repair.
One area of some 6500 homes, built on a reclaimed swamp, has essentially
disappeared as the homes sunk into the ground.
New homes need to be built for these residents in other areas of the
city. The damage will take up to 10
years to repair and rebuild.
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| Diana by the Avon River, Christchurch |
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| Damaged Cathedral |
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| Anglican Church which survived (made of wood) |
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| Countryside on the way to Christchurch |
John went on a tour into the New Zealand “Alps” to the
area where “The Lord of the Rings”: Two Towers” (the second movie) was
filmed. This incredibly rugged zone was
used as the home of the Rohan kingdom. It was in this area that the set was
built for the home town, the golden temple and many of the fight scenes were
filmed. Remember the part of the movie
where the villain says that he cannot be killed by any man ... and the daughter
of the king removes her helmet and says “I am not a man” ... these scenes were
filmed in this location. Interestingly
enough, since mostly women ride horses in New Zealand, of the 200 Rohan cavalry
in the movie, 145 were women dressed as men.
John also found out that there were three different Gandalf’s in the
Ring Movies. Sir Ian McKellan was the one
(who arrived late because he was filming the “X-Men” at the same time) who had
all the close-ups and all scenes involving walking, plus another New Zealand
actor played Gandalf in all scenes that involved riding horses because Sir Ian
is terrified of horses, plus another actor who is 7 feet, 6 inches tall played
Gandalf in all the Hobbit shots. We got to meet the Gandalf who was involved in
all of the horse scenes. (e.g., riding Shadowfax). He is now 80 years old and regaled us with
stories of the making of the Two Towers film, mostly about the weather in the
area (very high winds and very cold) and the quirks of the actors involved.
Next time you see John you can ask him about the different people involved in
the making of the film.
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| Entering Rohan |
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| Site of Kingdom of Rohan |
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| Shot from the movie |
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| John with Gandalf actor |
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| Mountains surrounding the kingdom |
After a very long day, we returned to Akaroa just before
the last tender brought us back “home” again. Tonight was formal dress as we
got ready for the New Year’s Eve dinner and party. Since there was a 50 km/h wind, all parties
were moved indoors from the pool area.
We had a great time at the jazz club/bar with Graeme and Fran (from
Australia) and good scotch and champagne as we welcomed 2013.
Happy New Year everyone!
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| Gail and Fran |
