Monday | February 6, 2017
After more than three weeks at sea, we arrived in Christchurch New Zealand this morning.
Actually, we sailed into Lyttelton which is attached to Christchurch via New Zealand’s longest tunnel. Christchurch is a relatively small city of only 375,000 people that was settled by the Maoris seven centuries prior to its formal “discovery” by Captain Cook in 1770. Civic spirit remains high in the face of the daunting task of rebuilding the entire city following the devastating earthquake of the word 2011 the claimed 154 lives and virtually leveled the city.
The site of land was most welcome indeed.
New Zealand appears to be a country of mountains and lush green countryside. I am looking forward to lots of lamb and sauvignon blanc!
Once we tied up and cleared the immigration inspection, I immediately headed into town on the shuttle so I could explore this town the bit.
The bus dropped me off at the beautiful botanical gardens, free to all.
I stumbled into the Canterbury church which is in the process of being rebuilt after the quake.
There, I ran into a friend and we spent the morning together. It was helpful talking to him since he was on the ship when many of the unfortunate internal political events transpired.
Together we walked the city and it was not difficult to see the consequences of the tragic earthquake that had devastated this town in 2011.
The city parks are these little pocket parks with different themes for each one.
But for kids who live here, this is a sad state of affairs.
We sought a place for a traditional New Zealand lunch, but finding none, we ended up eating Chinese food for breakfast in a food court – awful!
Then, we were desperately in search of a well known whiskey store in the city, Whisky Galore, that is reported to carry hundreds of brands of whiskey, most of which no one has ever heard of. Well, we found the store but it was closed, notwithstanding the concierge having reported otherwise to Alan earlier in the morning.
(Today is the New Zealand celebration of the treaty between the Maoris and Great Britain — similar to an Independence Day– so it is a national holiday. The streets are sleepy.)
Then, in an effort to return to the botanical gardens and catch a shuttle back to the ship, we seemed to have made wrong turns at virtually every intersection. Both wanting to get back to the ship expeditiously – needing to watch the Super Bowl for me, and for him making an appointment on time – we got in the taxi for a lovely little $65 ride back to the ship. We had no one to blame but ourselves.
Back on board, I went to Quantum to watch the Super Bowl.
As everyone knows by now, the Falcons dominated the first half until the Patriots came screaming back in the second half, and overtime, and won the game.
Comentários