Trip to Christchurch

This past week we took a 4-day trip to the city of Christchurch on the South Island. There is a possibility of our moving to Christchurch in 6 months time or so which is partly why we wanted to go and get a feel for the city. I would say it reminded me of a very scaled down, smaller, and more quaint version of New York City. There is quite a bit of Gothic architecture in the city, which Rob and I love, so we quite liked the feel of it. There are a number of buildings dating back to the early 1800's (which is when Christchurch was established and settled) which gives the city a historic feel. The landscape on the South Island is quite different from the North. There are mountains on the South, not big ones like you see on the West Coast, but not hills either. Besides doing some of the touristy things we drove around some of the surrounding neighborhoods to get a feel for where we might want to live if we do end up moving there. Our overall impression, charming city, wouldn't mind living there for a few years. Now we just need to get some of you to come over for a visit!

Christchurch Cathedral, at the center of downtown, Cathedral Square.

The altar of the cathedral.

The first bishop of Christchurch--or the remains of.





A marble relief--I thought the detail on it was amazing close up, but unfortunately you can't really tell from this pic, sorry.


I am enamored with stained glass windows, but restricted myself to posting this one pic. Beautiful though. The cathedral had dozen of stained glass windows featuring various biblical scenes.
Inside view of Christchurch Cathedral from the entrance. Located in the center of downtown at Cathedral Square.
There is a museum in Christchurch featuring all kinds of original artifacts, clothing, daily living/household items, toys, etc. from the early 1800's. This is suppose to be an original dollhouse from that period. I don't think the pics quite do it justice, but the detail, intricacy, and the quality of the craftsmanship that went into making this was unlike anything you would ever see at a toy store today.

Floating down the Avon River in our gondola.

Grace is less than pleased here, but I thought she looked sweet with this big blanket over her that was in the boat.
Feeding the duckies while going down a gondola on the Avon River.


Just cuz


Botanical Gardens
This is a close up of part of a cool sculpture that was in the Botanical Gardens. At least I thought it was cool. It is called 'Regret'. The following two photos are of it as well. I think it is made of copper (could be wrong). There is a lot of detail, especially on the masks, of which there is a close up below.

Panned out view of 'Regret'.
The girls and I outside Botanical Gardens in downtown Christchurch.

First Fish of the Year

On New Year's Day, we were invited by our neighbors to have dinner with them on their boat. We drove out to one of the seven lakes within twenty minutes of our front door and took the boat out to a spot on the lake where the water is heated by geothermal vents. This is Lizzie and Olivia in the cab as we pulled out from the dock.
The sand is hot enough on parts of the beach that you can cook a fish by burying it for forty minutes. After dinner we pulled out the fishing poles, and I caught the biggest trout I've ever seen in person. The fish here have no natural predators, so they grow to enormous sizes. Here's me with my fish!
And after mucking my way through cleaning, filleting, and deboning the fish, here's the outcome!

Christmas at the Beach

Well, ok, a few days after Christmas. That's the Kiwi tradition, though, is to go to the beach on Christmas. Lizzie ran straight up to the water, and spent the next hour or so running away from the waves as they came in.
Eventually, she decided that the water wasn't going to bite her. For another hour she sat and laughed as the receding wave pulled the sand out from under her.
Gracie wasn't so excited about the water. She wouldn't even let me hold her until I dried off, but she had a blast making sand castles with her bucket and shovel Santa left in her stocking.
When Lizzie tired of the water, she discovered that shovels are good for burying Daddy's feet.
The beach we went to is an hour or so north of us on the coast, called Whakatane. There are cliffs overlooking the ocean, and there is a lookout at the top of one of them with a tiki statue surveying the ocean.
This is his view.

Boxing Day in the Park

For those who have never heard of Boxing Day, it's the day after Christmas. And it has nothing to do with boxing. The name comes from the Victorian tradition of the upper class giving the servants their Christmas gifts in boxes the day after Christmas, or something like that. Another popular (but false) story is that it's the day everyone boxes up the presents they didn't want to take them back to the store. Now it's a holiday best celebrated by blowing things up in public spaces. We got an invitation to participate in a Coke fountain, which I'm honestly shocked I'd never seen before, given my family's history of blowing up anything and everything possible. A Coke fountain is made by dropping six or seven Mentos mints in a two litre bottle of Coke (or Diet Coke if you want it to be less sticky). Some company has made a loading chute that screws on to the top of the bottle so that you can deliver them all at once and have a nice constriction tube to get good height out of your fountain. Ours hit about twenty feet, as you can see below.

A Kiwi Christmas

For a week or two leading up to Christmas, Lizzie was very concerned that we didn't have a chimney and that Santa wouldn't be able to get in the house. So on Christmas Eve we watched Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, where a the Muppets give a the matter a thorough treatment, and Lizzie's concerns were adequately resolved. Here's Lizzie and Grace watching anxiously as Grover lays out the scenario of Santa getting into a house with no chimney.With that crisis averted, the kids went off to bed so that Santa could do his magic. In the morning, Lizzie ran out to find presents under the tree and her stocking stuffed, and Christmas began.

Lizzie's obsession with all things Disney Princess continues, and will now include bedtime stories.
Gracie was most excited by her new baby doll, which she proceeded to feed and snuggle, and paid no attention to the rest of Christmas. Thus, most of the rest of the pictures are of Lizzie.
Lizzie had been asking for weeks for a music box, and we finally found one with a dancing ballerina. Big eyes = excitement.
And the heart necklace inside.
This is what they've played with most since the big day. A big ol' marble maze that keeps them entertained for hours.
And Gracie's other new obsession, the Dora scootie car.
So that was Christmas. It turns out that it's a lot more fun when there are little kids to spoil. Jenny and I got each other a few things, but we had a lot more fun watching the kids' excitement.