Christchurch, New Zealand

Nancy and I are in New Zealand! We arrived in Christchurch early on Monday, Nov. 17, local time, with plenty of time left for sightseeing.

Emily met us at the airport and took us downtown. In the center of town is the Christchurch Cathedral:

I highly recommend the tower climb!

We stayed at the Sudima Hotel, next to the airport and also next to the International Antarctic Centre, which we toured on Tuesday. The Hagglund ride was great! We rode in the yellow one:

Later in the day Emily showed us Canterbury University, where she just finished the spring semester, and her flat:

On Tuesday evening we visited John and Margaret Porter:

John is my first cousin; he moved to Christchurch in 1987. Another family connection is that his brother David Porter worked at McMurdo Station in Antarctica for several years, and passed through Christchurch several times. The majority of people working in Antarctica leave from Christchurch. The United States, New Zealand and Italy have their headquarters for their Antarctic programs in a shared building adjacent to the International Antarctic Centre.

All of our travels on this trip are on the South Island. We started in Christchurch, toured around the South Island for several days in a campervan, and returned to Christchurch.