Since we were late getting to the airport because of the late arrival of the taxi we were actually in line with folks from the flight that was behind ours. We got ushered to the front of the line checked in and told that we had to run to the other end of the terminal to catch the flight and we had about 10 minutes to get there. Well that didn’t go over too well with some people whose name starts with K, but we eventually made it only to find out that we would be sitting for another 45 minutes before we would take off. Apparently we had to all be on the plane with the doors shut to keep the same crew, but we had to wait for a place in line to be able to take off.
All of this to say that our plans to get to Christ Church and spend a leisurely afternoon walking around the city had to change. We got into the airport in Christ Church New Zealand about 5:00 or so, retrieved out luggage found the rental car agency and drove into the city.
We had heard that Christ Church was very European in character and that was true. We found out hotel which was right down town, parked and unloaded the car, checked in and hustled out to try to see some of the sites while there was still some daylight.
We did a quick walking tour that Karen had found and saw some nice old buildings, a really first class river green way park that went all the way through the heart of the city some really cool bridges that carry all of the vehicular traffic across the river at each block.
Darkness came too quickly so we found a restaurant and had some dinner and went back to the hotel.
Our plan was to get up early and take advantage of some early light and walk along the river a bit more.
It was really a nice place and provided some really great photo ops. This Blog is being posted in what is our late fall. These photos are of spring images in New Zealand taken in October, enjoy.
Several blocks from the downtown we came across a wonderful botanical garden. We spent a good hour just enjoying the spring flowers and broad landscapes.
There was a nice museum and gallery building that we were not able to go in, but was a nice building to see in that setting.
There was a pretty nice old fountain.
Plenty of flowers and a statue of the original care taker.
More flowers and beautiful walks though wooded areas.
We worked out way back toward the hotel, wishing we had had more time.
Believe me my young friend there is nothing - absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. I can relate to this!
There was a café/boat house right down on the river so we stopped for a quick breakfast .
Back along the river we got several really nice photos.
As you can see from the photo below we are still in the city.
Each time you get to a bridge you have to come back to the reality of the modern world, but after crossing the bridge you can walk back into the very nice natural environment.
We went back on the tour of the river and a bit of the city in the daylight and saw some other interesting things along the way.
This Arch was one of the entrances to the city that has been converted into a pedestrian only plaza.
The river walk was really a pleasant plase to spend some time. I wished we had had more.
Wonderful bridges
Interesting fountain near an office complex right on the river bank.
John Cook the famous explorer and discoverer of New Zealand with a sea gull on his head
An interesting sidewalk chalk drawing.
Nice old church building that we had seen the night before.
A huge chess set
A Starbucks coffee shop in a nice old building
Several other interesting buildings on the same street as our hotel that we had not noticed the night before.
We did need to get on the road so we headed out toward the mountains. We were not more than a couple of mile form town when we started seeing the mountain range in the distance.
Many of the views we were seeing reminded us of Switzerland
We eventually made it to Mount Cook where we were going to spend the night, but that is for another Blog.
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