Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Boats, Trains and the Garden City!.

Today was mostly a day of travelling. We caught the InterIslander ferry from Wellington in the North Island to Picton in the South Island. The three hour trip was mostly spent sitting in a cafe falling asleep. Fortunately, due to the anti sea-sickness tablets we had beforehand, no one got sea sick, I guess the sleeping helped!


 

Here are some of the great views from a local Picton Park!

Picton is a lovely place, with bay all the way around it!
Views from Picton.



We then boarded the Tranz-Coastal Train and began our 6 hour journey down to Christchurch. Along the way we saw lots of rivers and mountains, and spotted some seals off the coast at Kaikoura.       

Views from the Tranz Coastal Train.







                                             

The Scenery changes every 3 minutes!

























The Train line runs along the side of the road.

And it also runs beside the ocean.













The train's back carrige is an open aired viewing carrige.




















We then had a quiet night in Christchurch, where we ate out at Liquidity on Oxford Terrace next to Christchurch's famous river, the River Avon. Luke was praised by the chefs for arranging his prawn tails in a circle and even garnishing the middle. They even offered him a job!!!! Sarcastically, of course.



Christchurch was set up by the English and all the city is laid out on a grid with streets running north/south & east/west. The central square is dominated by the Cathedral, as is aptly named Cathedral Square. Its also coined the "Garden City" as they have beautiful English gardens - over 750 of them! It feels very English!!

Mum outside the city centre. That church's spire
 has fallen down after the recent earthquake.
Here are some more images of us in Christchurch throughout the next few days:

Luke at the Christchurch Gondola.
@ the world peace bell in the Botanical Gardens.
A wheat shaped structure in Christchurch, made of street lights.

Some of the visible damage outside our hotel from the Sep 2010 earthquake.


More damage just near our hotel.
 














A fountain in the Botanical Gardens.