Christchurch

On Tuesday we headed over the mountains and along the east coast toward Christchurch.

Along the East coast we stopped and found a seal colony. We were able to get up close with no problem and watched them play and do seal things in the tide pools.

On Wednesday we toured downtown Christchurch which has experienced two major earthquakes in the last 14 months. As you can see, buildings are being held together with steel beans and supports. The entire center of the city is fenced so there is no admittance hence we weren't able to see the Cathedral. The construction of brick or stone and  mortar didn't fare well in the quake.

In the afternoon we spent about three hours at the Antarctic center near the airport. The highlight of the time was meeting Dori a blue penguin. The blue penguin is only found in New Zealand  and is the smallest of all the penguins being only about a foot tall when mature. We were able to see her up close and personal for a little while. Mel, our guide did a great job of providing information on Dori.

We stayed near Oxford about 50km from Christchurch at this great farm house. We had the entire top floor to ourselves and we enjoyed John and Shirley's company.

Time to drop the curtain on this trip and sail off into the sunset. We hope those of you who have followed us have enjoyed the posts. If you ever have the opportunity to visit New Zealand do it. The scenery is spectacular and the people are wonderful.



Some interesting facts as I leave you.
* The South  island is about 55,000 square miles, about 550 miles long and 100 miles wide
* It's smaller than California with 900,000 people.
* That's less than the population of San Jose.
* New Zealand is a young country, mostly settled after 1860.
* The gold rush lagged California's by about ten years and was critical to settlement there.
* There are three times as many sheep as people.
* The alps which run north to south are growing at about 5 inches per year.
Till next time..... happy trails