Saturday, March 4, 2017 (New Zealand date) Christchurch New Zealand

John and I met in San Francisco Thursday afternoon and boarded our flight to Auckland at around 7:30 PM. The flight was a 12 1/2 hour affair and neither of us got much sleep. We crossed the International Date Line thus we arrived on Saturday. In Auckland we had to go through Customs prior to catching our flight to Christchurch. Because we had camping gear we had to go through an extra layer of inspection as the Kiwis don't want any foreign dirt or seeds entering the country.

The flight into Christchurch was much like flying into Boise, a broad valley surrounded by mountains. No ocean views in Boise, however. We picked up a local Sim Card for my phone and got some NZ dollars. We caught a cab to our hotel where we were able to check in early.

After a short nap we walked to the Canterbury Museum to confirm where we were to catch our bus to Twizel on Monday morning. We will have a 30 minute walk on Monday morning. Next to the museum is the Botanical Gardens of Christchurch. We walked the gardens which are quite amazing. I'm looking forward to taking Susan there upon her arrival here.

We then walked through the downtown area which is still under reconstruction from the 2011 earthquake. Much of the devistation is still visible. We then found a brewpub for dinner and are now back in the room trying to stay awake until dark.

    Our hotel

    Huge Hydrangeas 

    Rose garden 

    John in one of the greenhouses 

    Shoring up a wall damaged by the earthquake 

    Damaged church