Christchurch

The IPWSO conference was being held in Christ Church, which is on the south island of NZ. When we arrived in Auckland, it was sunny and close to 80's and five days later, we land in Christchurch which has snow flurries. From a sunburn to freezing our posteriors off, this trip had it all. The feel here is very old world with the new world pushing its way in. On the one hand you have magnificent old cathedrals and other structures with cobblestone streets and meandering streams. On the other, a very modern museum, convention center and right in the middle of town, the Chalice. Throw in a mixture of traditional art with tons of tourist trash and well, you get the picture. Beautiful? yes, but the touristy garbage in the stores just made me sad.

Since we had two days until the conference and it was Susan's birthday, I asked her what she would like to do and she said she wanted to go and stay at the ocean so we headed to the nearest AAA and got tickets for transportation and hotel in Hokitika, which lies on the west coast of the south island. This was a world wind trip and extremes in weather once again. You can read about this trip by clicking on the Arthur's Pass and Hokitika links below.

Arriving back to Christchurch five hours later then we were suppose to, we decided to find dinner outside of the hotel and after walking about a half mile, we found the "Loaded Hog" which became our favorite restaurant in all of New Zealand.