Yes, it’s Monday. I lost Sunday, never to be found again! Arrived here at 10:30am after an excellent 13-hour flight to Auckland on Qantas and a quick 1 hr. 20 min flight down here. I slept most of the way over….but I am exhausted. So today is mainly devoted to catching up on rest, especially as I have a long day tomorrow. It was pouring in Auckland when we arrived – I was sure I had landed on the wrong island and gone straight to the UK! Down here, though, it is warm, muggy and overcast. My hotel backs onto the very pretty Victoria Square, with its statues of Queen Victoria and James Cook, and the Avon River. The Square’s famous floral clock has been dismantled for planting which is done twice a year. I walked around most of the central area, which includes Cathedral Square and the Gothic Revival Christ Church Cathedral. Trolleys still run here and one has been turned into a restaurant. I walked up Colombo Street to find stores for some errands and then returned to the hotel for a nice long bath and nap. On
Wednesday, I’ll finish my tour of the city.
Christchurch is the provincial capital of Canterbury, and, at a little over 300.000 is the South Island’s largest city. That tells you a lot about the population of South Island. Two thirds of the country’s 3.93 million people live on North Island, and just over one million of those in Auckland.
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