Bridge Building UC Style

This is the last week of classes here at the University of Canterbury for the spring term. On Monday the Civil Engineering Dept. sponsored a bridge building contest. It drew quite a crowd. The bridges were tested over the Avon River just outside the Student Union on campus. Bridges were constructed of wood beams, metal connectors, and wires. They were cantilevered from a support on the river bank over a support in the river. Each bridge was about 4 metres long. Steps were placed on the bridge and then students walked out onto the bridge.

Counterweight was provided by other students standing on the shore end of the bridge. One of the last bridges tested did not have enough counterweight on it and the testers ended up in the drink without having the bridge break. They got to try again.

The students each held onto a rope suspended from a pulley for balance and to slow their descent into the river when the bridge failed.

There were several categories of

prizes. The primary objective was to get two people on the end of the bridge and then have the bridge break as the third person reached the end. One prize was for the lightest bridge that held 2 people and broke on command. Another was for holding the most people.
This one was very strong.

It got very crowded when they got 6 people on the end.

This one did not fare as well. Two on successfully and down they go to get wet feet just before the third person reached the end.

Should we scale up the LPS bridge building contest? Too bad we don’t have a river on campus.

Spring Fling

Last Sunday was a gorgeous spring day without a cloud in the sky and temps in the 20s (°C). We returned to Akaroa (long harbour in Maori), a charming town that tries to recreate the feel of a provincial village at the site of NZ’s first French settlement. Akaroa is about 80 minutes south of ChCh on the Banks peninsula. Our goal this time was to go in search of Hector’s dolphins and blue penguins. The waters around Akaroa are home to the world’s smallest and rarest dolphin, the Hector’s, found only in NZ waters. The creatures are only about 1-1.5 metres long with a distinctive rounded dorsal fin. We donned wet suits and snorkelling gear and took a two hour tour with Black Cat Cruises in an attempt to get swimming alongside the dolphins.

We saw plenty of white flippered little blue penguins on our way out of the harbour but the dolphins were a bit more elusive (memories of the previous kiwi bird quest were going through our minds).

We cruised south along the coast just outside the harbour and then back across the mouth of the harbour until finally we spotted a pod of 3 dolphins.

We got a good look at them from the boat as they frolicked by several times.

Then it was time to get in the water. The water was really cold but the full wet suit, complete with gloves, booties, and hood, made it bearable.

Our job in the water was to entertain the dolphins (not vice versa). We were told to sing through the end of our snorkel and blow bubbles out under water. One of the swimmers had two rocks to click together to peak the dolphins interest. I made a fool of myself blowing bubbles and singing. Unfortunately, upon close inspection, the pod turned out to be two males and a female who were more interested in playing with each other (it being spring time) than with us. Doug was the only person in our group of 10 swimmers that got up close and personal with the dolphins in the water. They were so busy with each other that they almost ran into him. Doug now feels vindicated with respect to his less than ideal experience with the great whites in South Africa. Once the tour operators realized what the dolphins were up to they got us out of the water and back to the dock we went. They try not to interfere with the dolphins unless they want to play. Because the dolphin swim was not great for everyone in the group, we all got a partial refund on our trip. Black Cat Cruises stands by their guarantee of swimming with the dolphins.

We continued our day with a short walk to the site of Onawe Pa (fortified Maori village) on a peninsula in the middle of Akaroa Harbour. Onawe is connected to the mainland by a razor thin ridge so we had to cross over and back at low tide. The wide grassy slope then rises to the summit at 100 metres above sea level.

Manuka forest and thick grass now largely obscure the details of the pa site. In 1831,Ngai Tahu retreated to this site when they heard of the approach of Te Rauparaha’s warriors from north island and the subsequent fall of Kaiapoi Pa (north of present day ChCh). Despite the very secure boundaries of the pa and extensive palisades, Te Rauparaha used captured Ngai Tahu men as a shield and broke through the defences. It is said that the slaughter was immense, followed by a cannibal feast on the beach.

Here Doug is trying to strike a fierce Maori pose with his eyes bulging and tongue sticking out.

The area is very peaceful now with beautiful views of Akaroa Harbour.

After a delicious light lunch at the Hilltop Café we explored a few fishing possibilities on the way home and found a young black swan family.







Spring is definitely in the air and we had a great day!

Taylor's Mistake Hike

Saturday was a day of pounding rain
and gale force winds. So much for the beautiful spring blossoms - most of the lovely cherry trees are now completely denuded.

This photo was taken last week on campus before the wind and rain.










Several huge tree branches came down along the path to campus. Walking home under the eucalyptus trees made you realize why one of their nicknames is widow maker. There were small branches blowing everywhere. This photo was taken on a nice day.


After such a day, Sunday was a complete 180° change. Despite the frosty start it was a picture postcard perfect day with nary a cloud in sight and pleasant spring temps. We opted for something close to home. We drove across ChCh to the coast and hiked the raw and dramatic cliff edge walk from the suburb of Scarborough along Scarborough Head to the beach at Taylor’s Mistake (the name is said to have been given when Captain Taylor of the US ship Vulga mistook the bay for the entrance to Lyttelton Harbour) in Hobson Bay and then to the gun battery emplacements (NZ was worried about Japanese invasion during WWII) on Godley Head. It is hard to believe that this area is within the ChCh city limits.

This is the view across Sumner beach to ChCh proper with the Canterbury Plain and the snow-capped Alps in the distance.







This view is on the Pacific Coast side of Scarborough Head.





Sumner and Scarborough are some of the toniest of ChCh suburbs. There were some amazingly beautiful homes along the cliffs. One even had a bridge walkway from the third floor bedroom over to the hot tub gazebo. But I wouldn’t want people walking by my hot tub. Baches hang improbably off the cliffside at several of the beaches. The word “bach” is a contraction of “bachelor”; the word refers to the home built huts that provide a refuge from the busy world. Some of the baches are built on public land and there has been a long standing dispute as to their fate, but they add a lot of character to the beaches.

Doug as usual spotted a penguin in the bay. Even though we watched it for quite a while, it was too far away to positively identify the exact species. The walking track went across many sheep paddocks and a donkey pasture with Taylor’s Mistake beach in the background.

We drove around to the top of Godley Head after our hike to watch the paragliders. There were also model gliders taking advantage of the prefect conditions.

We ended the day trying to find Matson’s Beer. The White House by the Bridge was closed. So no luck this time. I then found with a little internet research that the brewery in here in ChCh. Doug will get his surprise soon.




In our search we did find whitebait in a fish store and decided to try it. It is quite a local delicacy at NZ$80 per kg. We knew we had to try it after seeing them being netted on the west coast. New Zealand whitebait are the juvenile of certain glaxiids which mature and live as adults in rivers with native forest surrounds. The larvae of these galaxiids are swept down to the ocean where they hatch and the sprats then move back up their home rivers as whitebait. They are best in an egg white omelette that does not mask the delicate flavour of the fish. We sautéed 125 g of fish with 4 egg whites. A lot of people are put off by the slimy little worm-looking things but it was delicious – a bit salty and slightly crunchy. It is even heart healthy for Doug with just egg whites.

Glorious Glaciers

In between the fruitless kiwi (bird) searches, we spent Friday exploring the Westland Tai Poutini National Park. The west coast of South Island routinely gets hammered with buckets of precipitation. Storms move in off the Tasman Sea and hit the Alps dropping an average of 5 metres of rain a year. The seemingly endless rain leads to snow falling in the glaciers’ accumulation zones which fuses into clear ice at 20 metres depth and flows down valleys as glaciers. Nowhere else in the world at this latitude do glaciers come so close to the coast. Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers are stereotypical cascades of ice grinding down towards the sea. During the last ice age (15,000 to 20,000 years ago) the glaciers reached the sea. Their terminal faces are now several kilometres inland but are advancing.

We had been watching the weather report closely and wisely chose a day that was clear for our glacier adventure. We signed on for a half-day morning trip on the Franz Joseph. When we checked in at 8:45 am we were outfitted with rubber boots, wool socks, crampons, wool cap, mittens, and raincoat after attesting to the fact that we were fit enough to walk over uneven rocks, ford streams, and climb ice stairs. We got on the big red bus for the short drive to the car park near the terminal face.

We walked along a bush trail for about 1 km.

One of the most amazing things about these glaciers is the tropical rainforest that surrounds them.

We had glimpses of the glacier while on the bush trail.

Our group of 35 was divided up into three groups according to self-assessed fitness levels. Doug and I chose group one – the fittest group that could move the fastest.

We out hiked many of the young things on the tour. We still had about 1 km to walk along/in the river bed before getting to the glacier face. We were able to rock hop across the few small streams we needed to cross. No deep stream crossings were necessary.

It was a warm day so no need for coat, wool cap, or mittens. The amount of melt water coming off the glacier was impressive.

Now that we had reached the glacier face it was time for crampons. Troy, our guide, chose me to demonstrate the proper technique for securing crampons to boots. The straps tie on the outside of your foot to avoid getting caught in the crampons.

Doug got to put on his own. Note the lovely fashion statement of having pants stuffed into socks. That is so the crampons do not catch on your pant legs.

We are going to be climbing the ice stairs, the narrow white line in the distance behind us.

Climbing up was hard work. I was glad to have water in my camel back.

Our loop trail allowed for some exploring of crevasses, caves, and more stairs.

The view from the top was magnificent and worth every drop of sweat.

The full sun was rapidly melting the stairs so Troy had to use the ice axe to clear and re-form a lot of the stairs we climbed during the morning. I was thankful to have on rubber boots so my feet stayed dry in the torrent coming down the stairs. Troy also had to re-sink several of the ice screws holding the ropes in.

After about 2 hours on the ice, down we went off Franz Joseph and on to Fox after a lunch of venison pie in a café in town.







The trail to the Fox Glacier face crossed a small stream bed and had great safety signs.

We concluded the day with the classic fabulous vista of Mt Cook (highest point in NZ) and Mt Tasman from Lake Matheson. The view was spectacular with the late afternoon sun on the western faces of the peaks. The wind had come up a little bit so the ripples in the lake prevented the perfect photo of Mt Tasman and Mt Cook reflected in the water.