Christchurch

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September 27 – Today we flew from Rotorua to Christchurch. The Rotorua Airport is a very small affair with no security screening, and so was the AT72 turbo prop we flew on. I sat at a window seat, so I had great views of the island as we flew. The land is very flat in some areas and quite rugged is others. Mostly it was a blanket of green, except for the white tops of the mountains. Really beautiful.



We picked up our rental car – not nearly as cool as our first, and probably won’t be as fun on the twisty roads. (This is a Nissan Wingroad, kind of a small station wagon, or long hatchback). The licence plate is GZJ7 (gee zee jay 7 – not quite 007, but still cool.)



After lunch at an Italian restaurant in the older section of Christchurch, we went to the Gingerbread Lodge, our B&B for the night. The large room was on the top floor with exposed rafters, a small balcony on the side and beautiful stain-glassed windows. However, the house had several other rooms, one of which had its bathroom on the other side of one of the stain-glassed windows. There was no sound-proofing between this and our room, so we were privy to some rather interesting noises. Also, one of the “walls” to our room was a sliding glass door that looked directly down upon the kitchen. Again, we were able to listen to all that went on in this room. It was an interesting place, and the hosts were lovely, but I’m just glad we had only booked for the one night.



We had thought about driving out to Arthur’s Pass, but the clouds were low, and we didn’t think we would see much, so we headed for the coast to Banks Peninsula about 70 kilometers southeast of Christchurch on one of those twisty turny roads David likes – I just closed my eyes! The views from the Peninsula were gorgeous, but it was windy and very cold. David braved the cold to get some pictures; I took a few photos of David from the car wearing the coat Pat loaned me. (We are deeply grateful for this!)



September 28 – This morning we headed for Dunedin! But first we took a very quick tour of the devastation that occurred in Christchurch when the earthquake hit in 2011. Most of the destruction affected the historic buildings in the centre of the city. There are some really beautiful older buildings here and it was sad to see how many have been damaged, as well as the vacant lots where others used to stand. However, it does appear that there are real efforts going on to try and restore those that remain. It would be interesting to come back in ten years or so and see the results. Our time was really short here. Daylight savings began today, so we lost an hour, and wanted to get on the road.

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