New Zealand

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Day 6

Our last day in New Zealand. We packed our bags & checked out of the Hotel. Since our flight back to Sydney was not till the afternoon, the Hotel was able to put our bags in a spare room for us so we didn't have to carry our bags around.



We drove into Christchurch City & parked in a station just near Cathedral Square.



We decided to take a ride on a Tram. We purchased tickets & boarded a Red Tram. The ticket is good for 2 days travel. The Tram driver provides commentary along the route. The tour takes about 30 minutes.



The Tram goes over the Avon River & down past the Art Gallery to the Botanic Gardens, Hagley Park, Crammer Square, a stop near the Casino, Victoria Square & then New Regent Street (Spanish Architecture & shops). At New Regent Street the Tram drivers changed over & then we were back at Cathedral Square.



We had a walk around the square, having a look at the Statue of John Robert Cooley (the founder of Cantebury).



Also had a look at the Metal Chalice, which is 18 metres high. It was created by Neil Dawson to celebrate the new millenium.



The Christchurch Cathedral is the dominant feature of the square. It was consecrated in 1881.





The Cathedral is impressive inside & has several stained glass windows.



There is also a rather large pipe organ inside the Cathedral.



Next, went for a walk to look at the Avon River.



Then we had a look at the Bridge of Remembrance.

After that, we had a look at the shops for a while. Met up with Ruby & Sarah & together with Tim we had a look at a few souvenir shops, then went to the Emirates Office to fix up our seat allocation for this afternoon's Flight.



We left the city & drove up to the Northlands Shopping Centre to have lunch. Afterwards, we went back to our Hotel to pick up bags & wait for the Shuttle bus to the Airport. Kerry & I took our rental cars back to the Office of the rental company.



We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. We checked in, filled out Exit forms & paid the Departure Tax (option to pay in either AUD or NZD).
Boarded the plane, this time we had Windows/Aisle seats, unlike the trip over where we were in the middle of the plane which did not have a view. The plane departed right on schedule.



We had good views over Christchurch, the Mountains, the Sea & countryside on take-off.





From the East Coast to the West Coast, all you could see was mountains. Some mountains had small amounts of snow on their peaks.



The flight over the mountains was smooth & we saw our last glimpse of the west coast of the New Zealand. It was quite cloudy going back to Sydney, however , it did not worry us as we were flying above the clouds.



Our plane arrived in Sydney on time. It was interesting being able to monitor the landing on our personal Video screens. We collected our bags, went through Customs & went outside the Terminal. Ruby's brother Rossel picked us up & drove us home.

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