CHRISTCHURCH

It rained all day today, i had to buy an umbrella to keep the camera dry. First off i walked into the city which took about 20mins and stopped to sit and study my map when a tram pulled up in front of me and the conductor jumped off and said $17 and you can ride the tram for 2 days, hop on hop off, sold, from then on he called me miss NT.
i rode the tram around the loop

Christchurch is full of flowers, it is so pretty.

my first hop off was the Art Gallery because i wanted to see the exhibition by this man which i had read about in the paper.

it was amazing. Life like sculptures, some were huge, a lot of them naked but absolutely fascinating, i loved it.

you were not allowed to take photos with a flash which is ok because i just put my camera onto landscape setting and the flash doesn't come up, but there was a bus load of tourists who didn't know how to turn the flash off on their cameras, no word of a lie i must have adjusted 30 cameras. It started because i helped a lady who was next to me in the line and next thing everyone else was asking me to do there's. an American gentleman asked me how much i charged ! he was serious. So funny.

i went on a wander through the museum and came across this replica of a house based on a real one in Bluff. The couple who lived here, Fred and Myrtle collected Paua shells. Fred used to polish them up and when he had no room in his shed he had a habit of leaving them on the lounge room floor. Myrtle eventually told him to pick them up because she couldn't vacuum properly so he started hanging them on the walls which soon became full. Word got out and people would call in to see all the shells, then bus loads would come. Anyway i watched a movie on them, they were married 72 years ! when they died the family loaned the collection to the museum who built the replica house to put them in. It was so lovely going through this house...did you go through it Clare ? gave me goose bumps.

some of their collection of Paua shells.

i then went on a walk through the Botanic Gardens and even though it was pouring rain it was still so beautiful, the pictures aren't great because I'm holding the brolly in one hand and the camera in the other and the camera is heavy.

below is the Avon river which you can normally take a Punt ride along but because of the rain they were cancelled.

Tomorrow is my last day in New Zealand, did you know the Dutch gave New Zealand it's name ? Sealand, land surrounded by sea. I fly out at 4,30pm and i will be sad to leave. New Zealand is beautiful, extremely clean, the best accommodation i have ever stayed in, well organised, they think of everything, a very easy and relaxing place to drive around and explore and the friendliest people, i would love to come back.

Ciao from lovely Christchurch.