First Full Day - Christchurch

So today, we finally managed to enjoy our first full day in New Zealand, and luckily the weather was superb, really sunny. Sadly the wind wasn't so helpful as it turned out at 4.30am that our Hot Air Ballooning was cancelled! Still we try again tomorrow.

First up after a nice breakfast was, a stroll around the city of Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island, where we would be for all of the first week. The city is very green and has the River Avon meandering through it, it really feels like a taste of old England on the other side of the world...a nice way to acclimatise!

First up then was a punting ride on the River Avon, see the photo to the left, which shows Amanda and I looking happy.

After this it was back to town for a view that money can buy, but I felt very privileged to see it, namely in the main square was a small zoo/aquarium which had New Zealands national bird, the Kiwi in it. Although it was pretty dark in the nocturnal room, we managed to see it, so we could tick that off our to do list!

Following a lovely lunch in the botanical gardens where Amanda managed to have a play on a tree (see below),

It was back to town to ride the old tram in town. The picture to the right shows me in front of the tram. A jolly old ride it was too, as there was a band playing old songs on the back of it...all the old classics, such as 'You are my sunshine' etc.

Finally, it was back into town for a bit of shopping, then a nice dinner and we managed to fight through until 9pm before finally succumbing to the tiredness and jet lag!