Day 8 Christchurch - Another Beauty!

We are sorry if you readers are getting tired of the beautiful scenery, but we are not! We started our day today strolling the grounds of the Christchurch Botanical Gardens which were right across the street from our hotel ("The Observatory Hotel). There was a great variety of trees and plants all beautifully curated. We have posted a few pictures below along with a few pictures of our hotel which resembles Cambridge England!

Ou next endeavor for the day was a hike at Taylors' Mistake (weird name) to Godley point. We had another picture-perfect day with blue skies and temperatures in the mid-sixties, but it felt event warmer with the sunshine on our backs. This hike is where the next round of "Wow" comes in. The trail hugged the coastline the entire way. In the picture below you can see the trail we followed. It provided us with ocean views including crashing waves among high cliffs and expansive pacific vistas. For a bonus we saw a couple of penguins, an enormous school of fish and an old WWII gun emplacement.

After finishing the hike, we were tired and hungry. We headed to a place called Riverside Market which was in downtown Christchurch and a bit like Faneuil Hall in Boston with lots of different food options scattered around an indoor atrium. We settled on beer and fish and chips. A couple, Chris and Howard from Vancouver sat down next to us and we ended up chatting for a couple of hours.! It was just what we needed after the hike.

Many thanks to Charlotte, our travel agent, for all the great suggestions for exploring Christchurch. We enjoyed them all!

NZ Fun Fact: Fashion sense here is at a 0. Most people wear leggings, hiking pants, sweatpants and jeans with t-shirts and sweatshirts in very drab colors. The good news is we don't have to worry about what to wear! We are sharing this with you in case you ever come here so you don't have to worry about it either.

Thank you to all of you who have left comments. They are much appreciated. Keep them coming!