Easter break day 2: Christchurch

Christchurch name is taken from the Christ Church of the University of Oxford, which the building and rooms have been used for the Harry Porter movie set. It's such a religious name for a city. Does it represent the spirit of the city? the people?

After having breakfast at the motel, we started the day around 9 am headed to Christchurch Botanic Gardens. We parked our car at Armagh St car park. It's free admission. We spent an hour walking around the garden and taking photos. It's kind of quiet garden (early morning of course) with big trees and beautiful rose garden. Kezia picked up a flower that she is not supposed to do that in a city garden.

From Botanic Gardens, we continued to Antartic Centre, which is located next to the Airport. We paid $60 for 2 adults and Kezia is free. The most interesting experience was the little blue penguin watch. Kezia really enjoyed it as she was so close enough with the penguins unintendedly stepping out to the penguin area. Then, the chilling -5 degrees Celcius room and the experience of the Antartic Storm when the temperatur was reduced to -18! I also spent a moment looking at the Scott Base photos.

We left Antartic Centre going back to motel for having a quick lunch. After lunch, we went to the Cathedral Square. We parked our car somewhere on Worcester St CBD area. We found that the public toilet is a two level building with a sliding door at the entrance! We went into the Cathedral and coming to the prayer spot where Nina and Kezia were praying together. We then took the tram circling the city square. Kezia's stroller is put just in front of the tram. Around 3 pm, we stopped by a cafe inside the Cathedral Junction to have a Flat White and a Hot Chocolate. Nina bought some souvenirs at the shop next to the cafe. It's a good spot to take photos with a passing tram in the background.

Last place we visited was the Christchurch Gondola. We paid $60 for 2 adults including the tram ride before. The gondola ride is exactly the same with one in Rotorua so I wasn't really excited. Except for Kezia. At the top almost 500m above sea level, we could see the Christchurch City and Lyttleton Harbour and the Pacific Ocean. Because it's cloudy we couldn't see the Southern Alps.

The next day, Easter Sunday, we checked out around 5 am. I parked the car and returned the car key at the Avis counter. We flew back to Wellington with 7.15 flight.

Arriving at Wellington airport, we went to the long term car park using a free shuttle. We're back to our "blue car" as Kezia saying and "no more white car". We went straightaway to the market for Nina's shopping and then church for Easter Sunday service. In the afternoon, we have an Easter Dinner with Indonesians of our church.

HAPPY EASTER