Christchurch

On Sunday (Jan 19) we explored Christchurch which is quite an interesting city. In September 2010 and again in February 2011, Christchurch suffered 2 significant earthquakes (7.2 and 6.8 magnitude respectively) and the city is still rebuilding. There's a large proportion of new modern buildings, some buildings under re/construction and others still damaged and unused. Despite this "unfinished" state, the city is charming with it's Avon river winding through and many beautiful parks and gardens. We visited the Riverside market, the Brockworth street art gallery, the Christchurch Art Gallery (where we saw a very interesting exhibit on Linocuts!) and the New Regent Street with its restaurants and cafés.

On Monday we took a day trip to Kaikoura which is the marine wildlife Mecca of NZ. Off the coast of Kaikoura there's a deep underwater canyon that attracts all kinds of marine life. In the morning we walked on the Esplanade along the bay and saw dolphins swimming and jumping out of the water. After lunch we joined a kayaking excursion and saw Little Penguins and fur seals. It was a lovely sunny afternoon and the landscape was incredible with mountains on one side and the Southern Pacific Ocean on the other - great day!

Today we visited the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve (can't pass up a chance to see more birds and animals!) where we saw real kiwis - the birds, not the fruits!!! It's actually quite difficult to see kiwi birds since they are nocturnal. Czytaj więcej