Our ship docked -- not in Christchurch, as advertised, but in a charming little town
named Lyttleton, about a 20 minute non-stop bus ride from downtown Christchurch.
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They were getting ready for a street party; (Left) we didn't
do anything else in Lyttleton except catch a bus
to downtown Christchurch.
In Christchurch we had a dilemma in reading the map (Right).
Nobody that I remember ever warned me about the sun direction
in the southern hemisphere. We wanted to go South. I looked at the sun,
which I estimated to be in the Southeast and said "we gotta go
that way". A city block later we realized we were going
in the wrong direction. Puzzled, I scratched my head (far right) and
then suddenly it dawned on me: South of the Equator, the sun is directly
North at noon -- opposite to what we're used to in the Northern half
of the globe. |
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But soon we found the city center -- and a Starbucks!I had my
usual Grande coffee and Lynda savored a Caramel flavored Frappuchino. |
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| While sipping our drinks in the Starbucks outdoor cafe,
we were entertained by a local musician (right).
We also got a glimpse of some interesting (touristy?)
vehicles passing by (far right). |
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Some other scenery around the Christchurch city center (left) --
and then it was time to go Punting in the Park! |
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Punting is a form of cruising in a flat-bottom boat propelled by a
person wielding a pole -- often dressed in a 19th century garb
-- as pictured at left above. A crew member of the punting
organization took a photo of us and we even managed to take a
self-portrait of us sitting in the boat.
Below are some of the sights we saw on our ride on the Avon River.
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On the way back from the punting Lynda stopped to use the local phone booth (left).
Back at the city square we were entertained by a guru (center left)
who had the answer to all
the world's problem: Women, the root of all evil, according to him. He said that all the
world's wars have been fought to enable women to go shopping! Oh well, it takes all
kinds -- or There's nuts in every nation, including New Zealand!
Then it was time for our bicycle tour (center right). We picked up our bikes (and
helmets) then followed Adrian, our guide, (right) for the rest of the afternoon.
(below)
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Not all of our bicycle tour was riding. We also took a short
hike on a footpath (left) in the Riccarton Bush, a natural forest
preserve in the city of Christchurch. The area is completely
fenced off to keep predators and foreign animal life from entering;
i.e., it has its totally own ecosystem.
And then we were back on our cycles (right). |
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Soon we entered a rose garden, one of the largest and most beautiful
we've ever seen. After taking the mandatory posed photo of us with
Adrian, Lynda took the camera and disappeared among the rose bushes
until it was time to leave. Some of the results of her efforts are
shown below.
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