Christchurch

---

After making our way out to Tullamarine airport on a shuttle we checked in. An hour long survey discussing every aspect of our trip with a lady in departures passed the time until our flight. The 3 hour flight went really quickly and we arrived around 11pm local time in Christchurch. After a few laps of the town dropping people off we arrived at our hostel. We had food in a restaurant up the road and went to bed early.

Our first full day in New Zealand began with a sleep in. After that we had a coffee and bagel in a cafe in the city centre before starting the sight seeing. Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island and it is also the second largest city in New Zealand. Although there are about 360,000 people in the city it's a fairly sleepy place and very laid back.

We decided to start New Zealand on a high with the Canterbury Brewery. Unfortunately it turned out that tours had stopped at the brewery. After a quiet weep we moved on to the Canterbury Museum (Christchurch is the regional capital of Canterbury) which was good and got our first look at a Kiwi (Stuffed this time). They also had a huge exhibit on Antarctica which was really good. We headed next door to the botanic gardens which were lovely and across the river which was jam packed with ducks.

After that we made our way up to Cathedral Square and visited the cathedral the city takes it's name from. From there we took in the huge Art gallery the city just built (Outside only) and then back out to the hostel for some grub. After checking emails we headed to bed relatively early.

The next day we organised a bus south for the following day and then caught a bus to the gondola outside the city. It takes you up to the top of Mount Cavendish. The views of the city were great. We did a short walk around the top of the hill before heading back down.

After that we moved onto Lyttelton town. We walked up to the Timeball station where years ago a huge ball would drop at 1pm everyday to allow sailors to set their watches. Unfortunately it was being renovated so we headed to the pub instead. After trying a range
of the local brews we headed back into town. We made our way to an irish bar beside us called O'Sullivans, and from there to a place called The Bog (Also Irish if you didn't guess) which was a good laugh before heading home

Next stop Dunedin...

---

Photos

A Freaky Mask
The Canterbury Museum

The Dome
In case you care its a geomagnetic dome used for weather recording and observation in Antarctica in the 1950's.