Christchurch, New Zealand, 3rd stop of a 6-stop tour with Grand Circle Travel (Cairns, Sydney, Christchurch, Queenstown, Auckland and Fiji)

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Sunday Feb 17: We took an early flight from Sydney to Christchurch.
We didn't realize that Southern New Zealand was so close to the Antarctica.



At Christchurch airport we visited the Antarctic Center where US and NZ
scientists and explorers are trained and depart from here for the Antarctica.



We all tried the Antarctic storm simulator. We put on the Antarctic clothing
and they cranked down the temperature and cranked up the high wind condition.
We all survived subzero windchill, but we know they took it easy on us !!!



Here Sally was watching the blue penguins... (Don't know who the other one is)



... much smaller than the regular penguins that we know
about. Here's Sherril ...


... and Audrey got closer through the glass window.

Blue penguins.

Ed and Ned inside the museum at the center

and here are Sally and Nancy...

We checked in at the Holiday Inn downtown Christchurch just in time

for Happy Hour ! Bob & Jean, Nim & Sherril, Jane & Hal, Lorraine and

Annabelle tried some very good local beers!

Monday Feb 18: Free day, browsing around, exploring the city.
Giant chess game at the square in front of the famous Cathedral ...

Hopped on free bus to see the city and got back to the Cathedral.

Had lunch at a really good Thai restaurant across from the Casino.

In the evening Grand Circle treated us with another fabulous

dinner at the "Cafe Bleu" downtown Christchurch.
Pictured with Bob at our table...

...and with Audrey, Penny, Jim, Lorraine and George...

Here's another table.

And another table.

And another table.

And another table.

Back to our table...

Tues Feb 19: We walked to the Eyris Blue Pearl Center/shop

where we listened to the Polish born pioneer talk about unique

Blue Pearls grown inside New Zealand Abalone shells.

We had a draw and Kathy won a beautiful necklace. Lucky girl !

The owner and his daughter explained and Kathy really ate it up !!!

Sherril wished she had won it.

We went on a city tour which covers the outskirt area also.

Here the bus took to the east out to Lyttleton, near the ocean.

Annabelle and Lorraine, with big guy Fran Ditommaso.

Jim & Audrey

Sherril

Jane

Joan, Les, Ned and Janet

We all took a walk to the beautiful Botanical Garden on the west side

of town. Here Lorraine and Sherril were admiring these gorgeous Hydrangeas.

So did Kathy.

Ned was trying to climb this big oak tree

Inside this hot house are all kinds of beautiful flowers.

Here are Lee and Ed

Jane and Hal

Banana tree next to a small waterfall.

We wish we could have this archway full of roses at home !

Sherril stopped to smell the roses.

So did Nancy.

Kathy too.

Janet stopped for a picture.

Can't resist taking another photo for Kathy.

And Sherril.

Wonderful stories on how the British came to New Zealand,

presented by this very clever Story Teller, dressed in old

British clothing..

and stories of how some of her relatives came from Poland

as she dressed in old Polish clothing.

Late that afternoon Annabelle, Lorraine, Sherril and I

were picked up by car by a tall and handsome host name Rod

and were whisked to his beautiful home for an overnight stay.

The house was on a 4 acre piece of land with a pond and surrounded

with tall trees to preserve privacy ...

His wife Sara is a tall blond lady that ...

..resembles Princess Diana !!!

And she seems to have the magic touch of Martha Stewart too!

She grows her own vegetable, raises her own chickens...

and made a great dinner for us from scratch using her own home grown stuff..

Her home made Pavlova, a New Zealand desert, was beautifully

presented and was delicious. We all loved it !!!

In the morning Rod took us back to the Holiday Inn and we all

wished we had a longer stay so we could get to know them better.

But we had to get on the bus to go south to Queenstown.

We stopped for lunch and admired the beautiful lake (Forgot the name).
Jeff and Betty were in the range of my camera, so I snapped this picture.

The water surface looked like glass with the western mountain

range in the background still half covered with snow !

It was so calm and indescribably beautiful.

Along the road, breathtaking mountains and meadows,

often full with herds of sheep, peacefully coexisting with nature.

We saw a bridge with contraptions rigged up for bungy jumping.

They have a platform to the right for spectators to watch and cheer.

New Zealand truly has breathtaking sceneries ...

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To see our next blog, Queenstown, New Zealand, click here:

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http://www.downunderqueenstownnewzealand.blogspot.com/

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