Heading South

---

Note: This is a journal entry from when I was an exchange student in 1994-1995. The photos have been scanned from the original prints.

The day after acquiring a painful sunburn spending a sunny day at a school friend's pool, I headed to the South Island on my way to walk the Milford Track (which will be worthy of at least one separate blog entry) on a trip organized by Rotary for the Youth Exchange Students in our district.

The first night on the South Island, we were billeted in Christchurch. It was long, hot day driving from Picton to Christchurch--above 30C. We stopped for a break in Kaikoura, to walk out on the rocks and see the views.

Christchurch

We visited the Antarctic Centre, which was really incredible! It made me want to visit Antarctica some day. After our visit there, we went to 'downtown' Christchurch and had a few hours to wander and explore.

I saw Christchurch Cathedral, which I had dreamed about months before. The Cathedral was beautiful. We saw the famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) Wizard of Christchurch, out in the Square. I didn't really pay too much attention to what he was actually talking about, but he was fascinating to watch.

We also went up the Christchurch gondola for the views of Lyttleton Harbour. On the way down, I said to my Finnish friend that they should equip the gondolas with rope ladders, so that if they ever got stopped, people could climb down. I'd hardly finished saying that, when the gondola stopped! We had a good laugh, and we weren't stuck for long.

Stopped at the beach on the way back into town, but we didn't have swimsuits, so we couldn't cool off in the water.

En Route to Te Anau

We started the day with a breakfast Rotary meeting, which just made me miss my New Zealand hosts, the Plimmerton Rotary Club. I really love my club, and wish I didn't have to miss Rotary, and the Christmas Party, to come on this trip (not that I ever would have given up this opportunity).

We saw the Church of the Good Shepherd and Lake Tekapo on the way to Te Anau today. It is such a wild, beautiful place. And there were fields of lupins that were up to my shoulders, and the highways are speckled because of the quartz in them.

---

Photos

Christchurch
The haze smoke from the wood fireplaces/stoves used to help heat the homes