We made it to Auckland! We lost a day, and it’s now Wednesday. NZ is a day minus 3 hours ahead of California. They are one of the first countries to be on the west side of the International Date Line.
We never left the airport in Auckland and flew directly from there to Christchurch, which is on the middle of the east coast of the south island. (Auckland is on the north coast of the north island.) Checked into our hotel, The Rydges, by 1:30 PM, now time for a nap since sleeping on the plane was worthless. Actually, Ken is napping, and I’m writing.
Christchurch is a very pretty city. It has a very English feel to it, and actually that was apparently done on purpose when the town was first established. They imported native English trees, and kept the English architecture for homes and other buildings. In the center of the city there are several more modern buildings mixed in (by modern, I mean built in the 1970’s instead of looking “old English”). Our hotel is one of those, but they have upgraded it recently and it has all the 2009 modern conveniences and style. We’re on the 10th floor and probably one of the tallest buildings in this downtown Christchurch area. Across the street from the hotel is the River Avon, and on the other side of the river is a huge, beautiful park. When Ken wakes up we’ll take a walk and check out the area and find a place for dinner.
Took a walk along the River Avon. It is really quaint with ducks and flowers along the banks. Every block where the street crosses the river is a cute old bridge. We walked around this part of Christchurch for a while. Every other store is a gift shop, a restaurant with cafe style seating on the sidewalk, or very upscale women's shops. We also found a great internet cafe (there right now posting this), and hope we are so lucky in every town we visit. After this we're heading out to find dinner at one of the cafes.
Tomorrow we board the train bright and early and head west to the west coast.
More next time...
We never left the airport in Auckland and flew directly from there to Christchurch, which is on the middle of the east coast of the south island. (Auckland is on the north coast of the north island.) Checked into our hotel, The Rydges, by 1:30 PM, now time for a nap since sleeping on the plane was worthless. Actually, Ken is napping, and I’m writing.
Christchurch is a very pretty city. It has a very English feel to it, and actually that was apparently done on purpose when the town was first established. They imported native English trees, and kept the English architecture for homes and other buildings. In the center of the city there are several more modern buildings mixed in (by modern, I mean built in the 1970’s instead of looking “old English”). Our hotel is one of those, but they have upgraded it recently and it has all the 2009 modern conveniences and style. We’re on the 10th floor and probably one of the tallest buildings in this downtown Christchurch area. Across the street from the hotel is the River Avon, and on the other side of the river is a huge, beautiful park. When Ken wakes up we’ll take a walk and check out the area and find a place for dinner.
Took a walk along the River Avon. It is really quaint with ducks and flowers along the banks. Every block where the street crosses the river is a cute old bridge. We walked around this part of Christchurch for a while. Every other store is a gift shop, a restaurant with cafe style seating on the sidewalk, or very upscale women's shops. We also found a great internet cafe (there right now posting this), and hope we are so lucky in every town we visit. After this we're heading out to find dinner at one of the cafes.
Tomorrow we board the train bright and early and head west to the west coast.
More next time...
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