Christchurch

That night, we arrived in Christchurch. This ended up being my favourite town for its buildings, activities and layout (super flat).
We walked around the city and saw some of the sights and bought some souvenirs. In the cathedral square in the heart of the city, there was...surprise, surprise....a giant cathedral!

The next morning, we took another city tour to see the sights.
Christchurch is also called the "garden city" of New Zealand, so we went to a large park with a botanical garden, where you could look right into the backyards of people and marvel at their fantastic gardens. Here I am just on a bridge in the beautiful park.

Lots more beautiful flowers in the botanical gardens.

And tons of duck ponds with even more ducks.

We took the long trip up to the top of the city again, and looked over the many many many bungaloes built into the side of the hill. On a nice day, we could have seen the mountains in the distance, but unfortunately this was a cloudier day.

On the tour, we also headed down to the port of Lyttleton, which was on the other side of a collapsed volcano. Here is the remainder of the volcano.

Within Lyttleton harbour, they were also holding two Russain boats for illegally fishing within New Zealand territory.

The next stop was the beach, where we enjoyed the rock formations and warm ocean. Jenn, Jim and I hiked up this giant rock to the lighthouse at the top.
We then climbed through the hollows made out by the water over time.

This is my feet in the Pacific ocean.

The rocks were totally covered by shells and were being battered by the crashing waves.

Back from the tour, we went back to the cathedral square, where we were lucky enough to see the Wizard of Christchurch. Fortunately, we did not make him mad enough to cast a spell on us.

While waiting for the tram, we discovered a clock which expresses (as Christine mentioned) Darwinism at its best. On top is the still alive and thriving Kiwi, and inside the egg is the Moa, the exctinct giant flightless bird of New Zealand.

Here is the big tram, which takes you within walking distance of its original station, but with the same lame jokes, no matter who is driving.

One of the stops was the Arts Centre, which is an old boys school which was converted for use as a theatre and artists studio. Here is an example of an inventive sculpture within the courtyard.

Our final stop on the tram was the Christchurch museum, where after a long day I decided to kill Jimmy.
We walked back to our hotel, and on the way stopped to watch the people "punting on the Avon," where boats travel on the river which runs through the city. Also, a cool fountain behind them.
After a day and a bit in Christchurch, a visit to the internet cafe and a LOT of walking, we got up super early to drive to Queenstown.