We started off in the morning on our private charter flight (same crew as we had when we flew with them to Mt. Cook… really nice!) When we arrived at the Christchurch airport our bus was parked on the tarmac waiting for us. Too cool. They took our bags right from the plane to the bus and we headed off to the town.
Christchurch is completely different than the other places we’ve visited here in New Zealand. The city is very British influenced. They have done a great job at keeping the old buildings from the 1800’s restored as if they were built yesterday. They are all over nestled throughout the city.
The Avon River winds through the city with beautiful tree’s, grasses and flowing bushes on its riverside. There are small arched bridges that cross the river throughout the city. We stopped for a quick visit to the Botanical Gardens and Museum. We didn’t have much time to explore either place, but our short strolls were very enjoyable.
We then went “Punting on the River”. We got in small groups and boarded our little boats. (kind of like the one’s you’d see in Italy where we had a guy wearing the straw hat and suspenders standing at the back of the boat poking a large wooden rod into the river to make us go) Joan and I sat in the front and loved every minute of the ride. There was tons of very large/old tree’s surrounding the river hanging over that often made nice arches we passed through. There were a variety of ducks with their little ducklings swimming all around, people on benches watching us pass by and just enjoying the beautiful sunny day.
On our last day we strolled through the city and took a leisurely day as it was our last one and wanted to just relax. We walked to the Art Center where local artists set up their tents to sell their work. There was live music playing and a variety of local street entertainers performing in the area (a very lively place to be). We bought a few things to bring back that we thought would be nice (OK, truth be known….we’ve done a lot of that during our trip ... we even had to buy an extra piece of luggage to take everything back in - we think we single-handedly recovered the Australian and New Zealand economies!)
We went back to the Botanical Garden and were able to see more than we did the first day… It was beautiful. We then walked through the city as the architect was so incredible. We headed back early as we had our final farewell reception and dinner with our wonderful tour group.
We started off in the morning on our private charter flight (same crew as we had when we flew with them to Mt. Cook… really nice!) When we arrived at the Christchurch airport our bus was parked on the tarmac waiting for us. Too cool. They took our bags right from the plane to the bus and we headed off to the town. 
Christchurch is completely different than the other places we’ve visited here in New Zealand. The city is very British influenced. They have done a great job at keeping the old buildings from the 1800’s restored as if they were built yesterday. They are all over nestled throughout the city. 
The Avon River winds through the city with beautiful tree’s, grasses and flowing bushes on its riverside. There are small arched bridges that cross the river throughout the city. We stopped for a quick visit to the Botanical Gardens and Museum. We didn’t have much time to explore either place, but our short strolls were very enjoyable. 
We then went “Punting on the River”. We got in small groups and boarded our little boats. (kind of like the one’s you’d see in Italy where we had a guy wearing the straw hat and suspenders standing at the back of the boat poking a large wooden rod into the river to make us go) Joan and I sat in the front and loved every minute of the ride. There was tons of very large/old tree’s surrounding the river hanging over that often made nice arches we passed through. There were a variety of ducks with their little ducklings swimming all around, people on benches watching us pass by and just enjoying the beautiful sunny day. 
On our last day we strolled through the city and took a leisurely day as it was our last one and wanted to just relax. We walked to the Art Center where local artists set up their tents to sell their work. There was live music playing and a variety of local street entertainers performing in the area (a very lively place to be). We bought a few things to bring back that we thought would be nice (OK, truth be known….we’ve done a lot of that during our trip ... we even had to buy an extra piece of luggage to take everything back in - we think we single-handedly recovered the Australian and New Zealand economies!) 
We went back to the Botanical Garden and were able to see more than we did the first day… It was beautiful. We then walked through the city as the architect was so incredible. We headed back early as we had our final farewell reception and dinner with our wonderful tour group. 
Shop 'til you drop? High maintenance nails for Joan? what has happened to the world?
ReplyDeleteSounds idyllic.
S-J