Christchurch, New Zealand

Goodbye Australia and welcome to New Zealand!  Taking a late night flight at 11:45PM, we arrive at the airport and fly off to Christchurch, NZ to arrive at 5AM.  Glossy eyed and exhausted, we find a poll near the luggage collection, insert our earplugs and build a cozy fort with our baggage to catch some zzz's before the information desk opened at 7:30AM.  With the airport worker looking overhead, we were told to get off the floor and move on.  Move on we did!

Look out NZ, here come the Americans!  Loaded with every free map and phamplet we could grab, we hoped into an airport shuttle and made way for the Camelot Lodge.

Tired and irritable, we dropped our bags and took a long walk around Christchurch to a local farmer's market where we struck gold.  Beauitful looking bake goods, vegetables (oh how we miss thee), fruit, bread, etc.,.  We make some purchases, consume many free samples, chill out, people watch and soak in the people of NZ.

Standing by the crystal clear Avon river running through the center of Christchurch

Back to the hotel, we hung out and passed out by the pool and spa (hot tub).  This was the first time a hotel actually had a spa when quoted such.  We hung out with the girls "touch" team, which is basically touch football.  The girls were jumping in and out of the freezing pool and hot tub, which added some excitement to our evening!  We grilled out with the goods from the market and enjoyed the rest of the night.  We both slept like angels that night.  I (Shelley) actually slept in until noon!  This is a rare occurance and Erik wasn't quite sure what to do, but realized this was a good thing.

Day #2 in Christchurch and we again explored the city by foot.  We went to the Botantical Gardens, an artists market, the local grocery store and downtown.  It was an unreal experience to see all of the destruction in downtown from the earthquake last year.  The destroyed buildings cannot be taken down by explosives, unlike buildings made in America, but instead need to be dismantled piece by piece.  We had a chance to speak with many local business owners and the rebuilding process has been extremely slow with insurance and the government.  However, the government actually has the money in the coffers to support the rebuilding effort--due to a quake in the '30's where they began putting money aside.  It truly was a sight to see, so many buildings closed up with blankets over the furniture and stores with goods inside untouched.  The downtown shopping area has since been constructed out of box cars--kind of neat.  Another evening of food on the barbie and a dip in the "spa"--just another day in NZ.

Suns out, Shelley is blossoming in the Botanical Gardens 

I need to get this flower out of the ground for Shelley!!

The sign brings back memories for Shelley...kind of looks like a picture of her made it to the sign?! 

Fencing around the downtown where all the destruction took place.  Sad.  But they are rebuilding

A day of planning for the road trip and a final chance to explore Christchurch by foot.  We made our way to the city museum..  Did I mention it was free?!  It was the coolest museum we saw!!  Some more sightseeing through the parks and another night on the grill and by the spa.  We are about ready for our roadtrip!!!!!!!