New Zealand

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Made it to Christchurch - barely. The shuttle driver got us to the airport late and the flight was already closed. Luckily Qantas did an override and got us on the plane, the ticket agent was wonderful - called the gate told them to wait and walked us through security to meet it. Whew.

Beautiful day, since Christchurch was earthquake damaged the trip was modified to have us stay at a Wilderness lodge, a wonderful place. Went on a short hike, took a short drive at night to see the Milky Way, the Southern Cross and the millions of stars. Oh my, it was unbelievable. I have never seen that many stars away from the City. According to the owner, there are many more stars in the Southern Hemisphere than the Northern.

The food was wonderful, lamb chops from their own land, cabbage, barley, pumpkin soup, fried pumpkin and a wonderful chocalate cake dessert. Pumpkin is something they eat in many ways.

I did take some pictures, not going to take the time now to load them - but the view from our balcony is spectacular! I will load those later tonight - heading out to hike.

Looks like another sunny day!

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