New Zealand Part 9: Christchurch and Home (Feb 22-23)

Christchurch is a really a lovely city. I don't use that word very often, but that is what Christchurch is. Lovely. It is supposedly the most "English" of the New Zealand cities, at least with respect to the architecture. And the river, parks and exceptional botanical gardens gave it such a wonderful charm. The beautiful weather helped, too.

Along the way from Kaikoura to Christchurch we had the unfortunate luck to have our windscreen (windshield) struck by a big rock, creating a HUGE crack. It could have been worse of course, but we couldn't believe we spent two weeks driving around on country roads only to have a problem like this happen on our way into the big city. So by the time we checked into our hotel we were tired and a little frustrated. We took it easy that evening and just walked around town, stopping for a drink at a popular bar downtown and a quick dinner at a Korean restaurant near the hotel.

We only had half a day on the 23rd before our plane left, so after checking out of the hotel we spent the entire morning hanging out at the botanical gardens. Eleven hours and $300 later (the $300 being for the rental car charge for the windscreen) we arrived back home in Townsville.

Next up....a visit from Lindsay's sister Meg followed by our trip to Viet Nam.