Fairlie, Pleasant Point, Tekapo, Twizel and Cave.

Lupines at Lake Tekapo,





















MountCook fromPukaki Lake















St Mary's Pleasant Point

Last week I spent a couple of days with Fr Michael Pui in the parish of Fairlie. This is another parish that covers a great area and includes five different churches. St Patrick’s Fairlie is where Fr Michael resides in a lovely house which he has had renovated with all mod cons and is quite comfortable. It was here that I caught up with all my e-mails and some renovating of the blog, because Fr Michael has got wireless broadband.

Fairlie is in the southern part of Canterbury and here there are a lot more hills and because of all the rain we have had in the last few weeks is green and lush. It is very similar to the Lake District, but with the added bonus of a lot fewer people. Fairlie is a town of eight hundred people incorporating many farms. Very quiet.

Forty-eight Kilometres to the East of Fairlie is Pleasant Point but on the way there we pass two small churches that Fr Michael looks after one in Cave and one in a little hamlet. Pleasant Point is a lovely pleasant spot. The Church of St Mary’s dominates the skyline because it is the tallest building in the town. The town itself is classical small New Zealand town/village. Very attractive to look at and walk around, but I do not think you could fill a whole day there. I helped Fr Michael with his Reconciliation service. We had about twelve penitents so obviously not a town full of sinners! While we were celebrating the sacrament the rain came down and was hitting the tin roof so hard we couldn’t hear ourselves singing which might have been a blessing not only for the Lord but for my ears also.

The next day Fr Michael was busy so I said I would go towards Twizel which is to the west of Fairlie, in fact 148 Kilometres and see the two big lakes, Tekapo and Pukaki, where there are great views of Mount Cook and the surrounding area. It seemed very overcast and damp and I thought it would not be a good day to go, but Fr said it would be alright because if its raining here it will be sun shining through the pass. It was and there was hardly a could in the sky once you had driven through the pass. The one thing that really stuck me was not the range of mountains the miles and miles of Lupines. Fr Michael when I told him said that the early settlers had brought them with them and they have just spread, so much so that they are considered as a weed here. But to me they looked very beautiful.

The two lakes of Tekapo and Pukaki were magnificent not because of their sizes but because of their colour. They were a very bright blue, which made a fantastic contrast to the snow capped mountains, especially Mount Cook, and the green of the trees. The ice blue comes from the grains of sand/earth that comes from the glacial sediments from the mountains. None of the pictures I have seen of these lakes ever does them full justice it can only truly be appreciated by ones own naked eyes. (That sounds like a plug for the New Zealand Tourist board)I didn’t make it to Twizel as I couldn’t stand another 48 ks of twist and turns. This gave me an understanding how hard and lonely it must be to be doing this every other week. It is no wonder also why Fr Michael’s answer phone message goes on for three minutes.