Thinking back on the trip, there are so many people and experiences that made the it memorable. With your indulgence, I’d like to give them a shout out.

Dale Derkatch, Director of Player Personnel of the Prince Albert Raiders Hockey Club, was one of the most interesting and engaging seat mates I’ve ever had on an airplane. We talked hockey all the way to Vancouver. Good luck in the coming season, Dale! Visit the Raiders online where you can catch up on draft news and even buy season tickets.

Big, big thanks to the owners of A Taste of India on Robson Street in Vancouver. It was my favourite curry place when I lived in Van and I am so thrilled that it’s still open for business. The food is, of course, just as wonderful now as then. Visit them online by clicking here and, if you’re lucky enough to live in Vancouver, visit them in person when you get the chance. They’re at 1282 Robson Street, or call ahead for takeout by calling 604-682-3894. 

Thanks also to our impromptu lunch guest, the talented and fascinating Helga Pal Smolders, who joined our table and enlivened the conversation with her knowledge and humour. Please click here and check out her online portfolio of original works.

Bruce of Argyle on the Park Motel/Hotel gave us a great room at a great rate and has maybe the best located accomodations in Christchurch. Close to but not in the congested downtown, right on the edge of Hagley Park and the botanical gardens, ample parking and an official cat ambassador named Bart – what’s not to like? The quiet neighbourhood (except for the late-night car racing that kept us up the first night) featured a number of excellent restaurants (except for that Thai place just around the corner that served rubbery mussels the first night and a fly in the wine on our next visit. Ick!), a decent number of shops. On the whole it was lovely. Stay there if you’re lucky enough to be in town. Visit the hotel online here; online booking available!

Jenny Mountfort and Joan Taylor of Wool, Yarns and Fibres in the Arts Centre on Hereford Street in downtown Christchurch were my introduction to the fibre artist community in New Zealand. The store offers finished goods and fibre from members of the Canterbury Area of the NZ Spinning, Weaving and Woolcrafts Society Inc, and I bought some gorgious alpaca/silk blend batts there. The Canterbury chapter of the society has more than 350 members and a dozen clubs, including the Christchurch Guild of Weavers and Spinners who meet Saturdays and Mondays from 10 until 2 in the Arts Centre guild rooms upstairs from the shop.  Follow this link for more info about the society, clubs, delegates etc. If you’re in or ever go to Christchurch, this store should be high on your list of must-visits, and be sure to drop in for the Guild meeting — you will be very welcome and you’ll meet some terrific people. Follow this link to check out the Arts Centre and all of the shops, galleries and studios there.

The Canterbury Museum’s Robert McDougall Gallery has an incredible exhibits and artifacts of the Maori peoples. The Canterbury Museum itself is packed interactive exhibits, galleries and more. The staff were, of course, incredibly helpful and friendly. Check out the Te Hokinga Mai exhibit and the museum here.

Getting lost is a great way to find things and that’s how I found Tai Tapu Carders and Spinners in Tai Tapu, about 30 mins east of Christchurch. It was the first day with the rental car and I thought it would be cool to drive to the harbour. So what, I overshot by, like, 90 kms and ended up in Akaroa. So I’m an idiot…like that’s news or something. If I hadn’t gotten lost, I wouldn’t have come across Ron and Maxine Lindsay’s mill. They process fleece for everyone from local farmers to New York fashion houses. The mill has a shop too where I bought a pound of super-wash merino – and then left my wallet on the counter. Thankfully Maxine is an angel and kept my wallet safe until I could come to claim it the next day. They don’t have a website but they can be found at 55 Main Road, Tai Tapu and you can mail them at PO Box 56, Tai Tapu 7645, Canterbury, New Zealand, phone 0064 3 329-6859.  Order fleece from her if you can. Seriously. It’s amazing stuff, all of it is top notch and you can get it for a ridiculously reasonable price. Also, they are thinking of selling the mill. Any takers? Contact them by phone to make an offer or to arrange a visit.

Got lost the next day, too, on the way to Middlerock Farm. Found ourselves in a lovely pastorful setting that unfortunately did not include a lot of street signs. How one turns off a major state highway onto a country road without noticing is all but impossible but somehow I managed to do just that. A local man, who owns an interior decor company (or something like that, and his name escapes me unfortunately) not only gave us directions but drove ahead then waited for us to be sure that we didn’t keep getting lost. A thousand thank yous to this kind and patient man who, I’m sure, thinks I’m a complete idiot.

Bruce, Lyn, and Charlotte of Middlerock Farm in the scenic Lake Coleridge near Darfield were terrific hosts. They prepared us a fabulous lunch, let us help move sheep between paddocks, and took us on an incredible tour of their property. Charlotte’s pet sheep Richard and Condi were so sweet; who knew sheep were pets?!Warm, fun and wonderful to be around, the Lyn’s deserve more recognition and praise than I could ever hope to give them. Please visit their website and say hi for me while you are there. They also set up a lunch date/tour with Ashford owner Richard Ashford for us. Wow! So nice!

Ashburton is the home of the Ashford, the premier name in spinning, yarn and fibre art world-wide. And we got to tour the factory with Elizabeth Ashford. We got to see the factory, learn about Ashford’s history, meet some of the workers, admire bales and bales of yummy fibre, get a sneak peek at a new soon-to-be-released compact loom of Richard’s own design, and enjoy lunch at a cafeteria that had better food than most three star restaurants. The factory site also hosts and artisans village so you can conceiveably spend many hours (and countless hundreds of dollars) in this delightful place, not to mention in the Ashford giftshop itself. Unbelievable goods and yarns. It was a profound act of will not to buy, well, everything in sight. Souvenirs for my knitting gang were purchased here. Richard will be coming to Knotty by Nature this summer. Please be sure to show up at the store when he’s in town. Please following this link to Ashford’s website, and sign up for their magazine, The Wheel. 

Many thanks to the owners of Top Ten Holiday Park in Timaru for their concern over my health and for hooking me up with Dr. Barbara O’Connell on 5 Dee Street, a few blocks from the holiday park. Dr. O’Connell’s advice and care had me cured within 5 days.  Now I wish I could see her and get some advice about my sand-fly bites…..Anyway, the Top Ten Holiday Park in Timaru is as gorgeous as it appears on their website. Ridiculously affordable too. Please click here and see this terrific  holiday park for yourself.

Visited the Forrester Gallery in Omaru, and also the Omaru Botanical Gardens. Nice town. We didn’t stay long but we from what we saw the town had lots to offer. You can check out the Forrester Gallery online, worth a visit virtually and in person.

Dunedin and the Dunedin Holiday Park were home for two days. The Dunedin Holiday Park is perhaps the only accomodations in NZ entirely decorated with murals. Every exterior wall featured a landscape or rendering of some sort. It is owned by a very nice, very very tall man named Daniel who we ran into later in Central Otago at a winery with his equally very very tall family. The holiday park location was ideal in that it was close to the start of the road (not so much a road as a rollercoaster white-knuckle adventure on a cliff-hugging goat-trail narrow paved road without gaurdrails) that leads to the Royal Albatross Centre, at Taiaroa Head. This is right above Pilot’s Beach where penguins come at dusk (I don’t know if they come ashore or not; no way in hell I was driving on that road after dark).

Check out the excellent albatross web-cam. The albatross are currently feeding and raising chicks hatched in March so there’s good stuff to see, if you’re patient. Interesting fact: Two female albatross incubated an egg and are now raising a chick together. Good on ya, girls! It got a fair amount of media attention, read some of it here, with pic of happy couple.

By the side of this crazy road near Gills Corner we spotted a wheelbarrow filled with Paua (pronounced Pooh-ah) shells, also called abalone in North America. Polished and cleaned, they sell for about $15 to $20 NZ in stores. These were unpolished, piled in on top of eachother, priced by size between $2 and $10 and paid for by pushing money through a hole into a locked cash box. Really. Bought $23 worth (2 small, 2 medium, 1 largist) and consider this the best deal of the trip.

Balclutha, south of Dunedin, was the point at which we turned west to head for the alps and the coast. Balclutha, doesn’t get a mention in Lonely Planet but it’s a dandy little town. A charming store called Bo-Peep catered more to sewing and quilting but also had a small but excellent selection of regional and international brand yarns. Had to make a couple of purchases here, and I know one quilter who will be happy that I did.

Next Post: West Coast.