1 - New Zealand - Christchurch

Christchurch greeted us the next morning with a rain storm that would make Portland envious. In a mysterious upgrade, we had a 2-story penthouse suite on the 26th floor where the 20-foot windows giving us a perfect view of the incredibly dark gray blanket that covered the city. Consequently, we slept in, cranked up the heat, read a little, and generally relax.

By mid-afternoon, the skies started to lighten, so we ventured out. By the time we exited the hotel, the sun had come out and the city had transformed into something quite pleasant.



We walked around the Cathedral Square, just a couple of blocks from our hotel. The city was really lovely. We visited the Cathedral, a magnificent, stained-glass clad Anglican Church. We happened to arrive when the choir boys did their daily rehearsal. They sounded like angels.



We took a trolley tour around the city (it only turned out to be a mile in length, so we could have walked it easily...oh well). We crossed the Avon River, ambled through Victoria Square and the Botanical Gardens. We took pictures of some vineyards and various gardens.



We then stumbled across the best restaurant in Christchurch, if not the country, Hays. This was the best meal in our entire trip, not to mention the best lamb. The weather outlook for the next few days did not look good -- snow in the mountains. We were to pick up our campervan the next morning and drive to those very mountains. Kathy became very nervous!