I can't believe that there is only about a week left in our trip. So much to see and so little time.
We checked out of our hotel between 9am and 10am (closer to 10am I believe) to head down to Christchurch. It is a 180+ km trip, taking about 3 hours without stops. Part of the trip was somewhat inland, part along the coast. As I have said before, the benefit of being the driver on a roadtrip is that I get to decide when we stop. The problem, especially in New Zealand, is that it's impossible to stop every 37 seconds on average - which is about how often there was another amazing view in front of us or just off to the side. Lisa actually has a lot more picture of this day's roadtrip. Perhaps I will steal some of them from here when I have the opportunity! In the meantime, here are some of the ones I did manage to get.
Christchurch feels the most English of the cities I have seen here so far. There were devastating earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 and there is still a lot of rebuilding being done. It seems to be very thoughtful planning though, with newer architecture that integrates well with the old, and there is a lot of vibrancy and some amazing street art.
We arrived in Christchurch around 1:00pm, too early to check into our hotel. One of the recommendations for free time in this city was the Antarctic Centre (located near the airport). It has lots of exhibitions and recordings/video experiences, plus some pretty hands-on stuff as well. We did the 'ice-room', which offers an opportunity to be in sub-zero (degrees Celsius, that is) temperatures with winds gusting over 40+ kph. I'll be honest, it was cold but not that cold to someone who has spent a lot of their life in northern New England (and northern NY for a while as well). And saw huskies, mostly just sleeping. But still ... dogs. I love them all!
I didn't take a lot of photos in the centre itself, but these were interesting. The first is of granitoid, the second of granite (both 450-475 million years old), The third is ancient sandstone (400 million years old), and the fourth is of a lystrosaurus, a plant-eating, swamp-dwelling 1-metre high mammal-like reptile that lived about 200 million years ago), ,
but there is actually a small colony of little blue penguins (see Melbourne/Phillip Island). And I can't resist penguins!
After 'visiting' the Antarctic, we were able to check into our hotel. Lisa decided to settle into the room and relax a little, but I needed to walk. So much time in the car ... I need to walk. As it happened, the Christchurch Bonatic Garden was embedded in a park that was right across the street from the front entrance of the hotel. It was probably a third of a kilometer stroll, and I was in the park. As is often the case, I just wandered around for a couple of hours, and tool pictures. I love how when I look at some of the pictures I can just see those lovely surroundings almost as if I was right there!
Along the water
Trees
Flowers, including roses (and which of these things is not like the others?)
Tomorrow - Akoroa!
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