Tag Archives: NZ

The $1,000,000 House

The $1,000,000 House by Steph Jennings
The $1,000,000 House, a photo by Steph Jennings on Flickr.

For Sale, Historic Earthquake Site, River View, Portaloos coming. $1,000,000.

Taken cycling through Avonside one of the worst effected areas in the February 22nd quake, today’s picture isn’t about the image it’s about the message.

Today (June 13th) Christchurch was rocked by another series of large aftershocks, thankfully this time only a few were injured and there were no fatalities, but there has been yet more extensive damage to the infrastructure.

Houses fallen, businesses closed and roads, sewers, power lines and water mains “munted” – yet more uncertainty and testing times for the residents but this image shows that after the worst of experiences you can still see the bright side and maintain a sense of humour.

Stay strong Christchurch, or Kia Kaha as the locals would say, keep your heads up and you’ll come through this again!

Purple Peak – Akaroa

Purple Peak - Akaroa by Steph Jennings
Purple Peak – Akaroa, a photo by Steph Jennings on Flickr.

The last day of the Banks Peninsula Tramp after heading through the Hinewai reserve we reached purple peak. The highest point of this days walking before we start heading down the other side of the hill and into Akaroa. The bay in the distance is Otanerito where we started the days walking.

Tranzalpine, Christchurh to Greymouth

The Transalpine Trip is a 233.8 km train journey from Christchurch on the east coast to Greymouth on the west coast on New Zealand passing through some of the most amazing scenery I’ve ever encountered.

Travelling first across the Canterbury plains then into the Southern Alps, passing via Arthur’s Pass and in several places crossing the waimakariri river, there are 19 tunnels, the longest one taking 20 minutes to pass through and 4 viaducts, the highest being the Staircase standing at 73 metres.

The journey took 4.5hours one way but with a stunning open air carriage for you to take pictures from there was no way you could tire of the scenery.

We travelled from Christchurch to Greymouth and back again in one day with only an hours stop on the west coast, It was long day with a round trip of 467.6km but worth every minute!

The only thing that could have made it any more scenic would have been if these mountains we snow capped.

www.tranzscenic.co.nz/services/tranzalpine.aspx