"The weather is bad in New Zealand, do not forget an umbrella" E-mail from New Zealand.
We had to worry about weather in addition to fear of terrorism..
I packed the suitcase an umbrella and coat while thinking, "New Zealand is a rainy country, nothing we can do about it"
As an inspection at the airport seemed severe since the terrorism in the USA, we got to the airport 3 hours prior to departure time.
It was too early. We had nothing to do except waiting. Tea and snacks in Chinese style was everything we did in the airport. Since the seat was discount one located near a wing, our sleep was often disturbed by the noise coming from the engine as usual.
I really want to take business class seat sometime.
The aircraft arrived in Christchurch on time. Though I expected a bigger airport, it was as big as Japanese local airport. A dog was at an airport and was checking foods as a guidebook showed.
After receiving quarantine inspection, we caught a taxi without any trouble. I worried about get lost, but there was no possibility of it. Next room was a taxi stop ! It was a small airport.
By the way, we changed Japanese yen into NZ$ at 60\/$ at a bank in Japan prior to our tour. But we found a board showed that the exchange rate was 53\/NZ$ in Christchurch!
We already changed a hundred thousand yen at high rate in Japan.
A Japanese bank takes too much commission ! Unbelievable !

We went to Chinese restaurant for supper. Seafood was really delicious and New Zealand. wine too. Total cost was 36NZ$, about \1,000 each. Reasonable price and delicious foods!.

	Though Tasman Sea was covered with heavy cloud, we could see mountains in West Land National Park. But, I instinctively asked to myself, " Can we go back to Japan safely?" I worried about terrorism rather than the weather and a trip just started.
	We took a hotel just in front of Victoria Square along Colombo St. The hotel was high class hotel. Because of a low price of N.Z$, 50\ /N.Z$, we could take the hotel. The location was the best.
	Though we had rain a little, we did not need to use an umbrella this day. I handed a request stuff from Japan to the friend who studied abroad. We had beer and potato in a terrace seat near Hagley Park. Christchurch, called "Garden city", had a lot of park and the turf in the garden was maintained well. We could not found any cigarette and feces of an empty can on the turf. It was a big different from Japan.

Cathedral square. The pipe organ installed on both sides of the front presented solemn atmosphere and gave me an emotional feeling. Unconsciously my thought turned to weight of history and the culture. Because it is a center of a town, we passed here many times. Souvenir shops, Post office, Information center and so on, every thing looked centered here.

The second day in Christchurch we rent a car and bought a map at a book store.
A clerk said "Total is 8$55. But we could not catch what he said. I felt that his pronunciation was a little different from American English. So, we had to ask him many times. What ? Pardon me? I felt that "Here is New Zealand" then.

Christchurch Gondola. I get on a gondola and watched a whole view of a town of Christchurch from Mt.Cavendish. As you can see on the picture, many sheep on hillside. I worried about that they would fall down to the bottom of the mountain if the slipped. Newly married couple was there and I took a picture for them. It was a nice place, few sightseers, quiet and good atmosphere place. We went to South Pole center while losing sometimes, and had a lunch.. When we got back to the hotel, we had a message from the friend met the previous day in Christchurch.. He presented us a Kiwi wine and a Christmas card. Thank you very much. Thank you for your kind consideration.

　　[HOME]　　　TEKAPO