Day One: Kia Ora from Christchurch!

Kia ora from New Zealand!  Man Boo and I made it safely to Christchurch yesterday -- a bit bleary-eyed but happy.

One of the things I had been most worried about on the trip was the extended amount of time we would be spending on planes: MSP --> SFO --> AUK --> CHC.  All told, we left our house at noon on Saturday and arrived in Christchurch at 8:45am on Monday after 19 hours (?? my math might be off, the international date line throws me off) of time on planes and in airports.

A couple of things made that trip much better though -- so much so that I actually didn't mind it at all.

First, we had an extended layover in San Francisco which gave us time to catch up and grab dinner with these cuties.  Spending time with them and the family energized us for the next long leg of our trip across the Pacific Ocean.

The second thing that helped immensely was the run of good "upgrade" karma for my flights.  Not only did I get an upgrade for my flight to San Francisco, but somehow Man Boo and I also got upgraded to first class for our 12-hour flight to Auckland!  Major win considering it meant we got to actually sleep in a bed on our way over and have a fancy breakfast together on the plane when we woke up.

Christchurch was beautiful.  We spent the day walking through the town, visiting the Museum, the Botanic Garden and eating yummy food.  

Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch. An earthquake took down their main cathedral several years back, and they built this cathedral out of cardboard (and other materials, of course) to use while they repaired and rebuilt the original.

The Canterbury Museum.  The top picture is from an exhibit they had on Fred and Myrtle Flutey who were known for their "Paua Shell House". 

Flora and fauna at the Botanic Gardens.

Today, we got up bright and early, did a little grocery shopping for the campervan, made a crucial stop at Knit World to buy some yarn from which I can make my traditional "vacation memento" item.  Incidentally, I have to say that yarn in NZ is crazy inexpensive.  To the point when Jamie was actually encouraging me to buy more so that I wouldn't waste $$$ on more expensive stuff at home.  

Finally, we headed out of town and on our way to Mt.Cook.  It was a lovely drive (through Pelennor Fields for you LoTR fans) and pictures were taken.  As we drove, I found myself vaguely thinking it looks just like Pelennor, but didn't realize that it actually was filmed there until afterwards.  We should have done more LoTR preparation for this trip.

I'll share those pics tomorrow! For now...I can hardly keep my eyes open. Time for bed.