Our Time in India: New Zealand

After arriving in Christchurch we had most of the day to explore the city. It really is a lovely city, so clean and green, such a contrast to Chennai. The Avon River runs through the city and the kids had fun feeding the ducks that flocked the banks. We strolled through the most beautiful botanical gardens. I have never before seen such enormous tress. And there was a fantastic rose garden filled with tons of rose bushes. Even the boys enjoyed smelling the roses.

We then headed north to Blenheim but enjoyed making several stops along the way. It was so refreshing to be out driving ourselves and seeing very little traffic! We made a wonderful stop in Kaikoura which is well know for its whale watching and dolphin swimming. We had considered doing one of these but considering the water temperature and the large waves that are quite common we decided against them. We did meet a couple who did the whale watch and said it was a waste of money so that may us feel better for our decision. We hiked on trails around the bay at Kaikoura and saw a fur seal colony. The sky was such a brilliant blue and the water was so clear. We thought we would only hike for around 30 minutes but it turned into about a 2 1/2 hours hike. On the way back Emily decided to hike to the top of one the hills as she had forgotten her camera as she said the view was beautiful. So I decided to hike it with her. When we got the top, I trailed behind abit she announced that I probably shouldn't have followed her, I was getting kind of old to be doing that!

Our family on top of Seal Point, Kaikoura