Christchurch
12 - 16 February 2023
We got to Christchurch Sunday afternoon, and went directly to a clinic to get antibiotics for Julie. Standard procedure was to take a Covid test before entering the waiting room. No problem, it’s just a sinus infection. Well, dabnabbit, the test could not have gone positive any faster. Julie had Covid. Anthony, on the other hand, did not. His test was negative. Go figure. So we got some antibiotics, just to make sure the viral infection didn’t let any more nasties in and went to the hotel. New Zealand protocol is to quarantine for 7 days from when you start showing symptoms. It had already been 5 days, so Julie would need to stay in the room for 2 more. At least the room had a balcony and a view overlooking the gardens at the Chateau on the Park.
Mural in downtown Christchurch
After we unpacked, Anthony took a walk through Hagley Park and then into downtown. He found the Christchurch Cathedral, which is still under reconstruction after the 6.3 magnitude earthquake in 2011.
Howzat! A complete history of cricket in New Zealand - a three person play in Headley Park
Buster, finds the dolphins.
Monday, Anthony went on the Swimming with the Dolphins tour by himself. The tour left from Akaroa, a quaint little French town on the Banks Peninsula, south east of Christchurch. Fortunately, the seas were too rough to try to swim with the dolphins, so Anthony’s tour was switched to the Akaroa Dolphin where he had the pleasure to meet Buster the dolphin locating miniature Schnauzer.
Buster did his job, and found a pod of Hector’s Dolphins near the mouth of Bank’s Bay. The seas were rough and there was no way Anthony would have been able to swim with the dolphins.
Our boat, the Akaroa Dolphin was a homemade catamaran.
We also saw a Mauri lodge, interesting volcanic structures and New Zealand Fur seals.
Steampunk Rhino in a field above Akaroa
On Tuesday we had the trip to Edoras (the home of Rohan), aka Mount Sunday. Julie was feeling much better, it was day 7 of her quarantine, and there was no way she was missing it. We had a fun group and guide on our tour.
Natasha our LOTR geek guide.
Anthony, Shane and Brian carrying the hardware up the hill. That sword was heavy.
They rode horses up this hill!
Helms deep was CGI’d in the valley just past the copse of trees.
We stopped at Burgess Rd to get coffee on the way to Mount Sunday.