Christchurch - January 2 to 9, 2007

After a long flight over the Pacific and a relatively short hop from Auckland, we arrived in Christchurch, having lost the entire New Years Day. We picked up our rental car, tried desparately to adjust to driving on the left hand side of the road and headed to our motel.

Our main activities in Christchurch were buying things for the two months (e.g., food, books), playing golf (we joined the NZGA for the duration), and eating at the Barakauskas's place. Ray Barakauskas was my dentist in Toronto for many years and has recently moved to New Zealand. He and his wife Birute and family were incredible hosts. Birute kept inviting us over for dinner and we kept accepting! Ray acted as a "consultant" for our trip, offerring advice on golf courses and other destinations and helping prepare us for the differences that we might not anticipate (like oncoming traffic having the right-of-way when turning in front of you!!)

Below are the shots we took during the week. They begin with a day trip to Akaroa, next were taken during one of our evenings at Ray's place, and then at our first NZ golf game at Terrace Downs. At the bottom are a few shots taken in Lyttleton, at the Sunday Market in Christchurch, at Waitikiri Golf Course and at the International Antarctic Centre.

Next stop: Dunedin