Christchurch

One of the wonderful things about this trip so far is the kindness that we have been on the receiving end of for the past 2 months. Here in Christchurch, we are being hosted by our friends' Deb and Craig's friends' Richard and Michelle. To say that the stay has been a taste of home comforts would be an understatement. We have enjoyed amazing food and drink, tours of the various Christchurch neighborhoods, long walks through parks and the use of their bicycles for a spin around the city. All of that and we have only been here for 40 hours.

From our perspective, Christchurch has been both the most American and the most Brittish of cities in New Zealand. In the downtown core, there are streets that seem to scream Oxford, while the suburbs seem to knit together the standard American sprawl with quaint Cape Cod style hamlets. The highlight of Christchurch for me was the sunset tour of the Port area by Sumner Beach and Lyttleton, which are nestled in on the other side of a hill from Christchurch proper. The combuination of the blue blue coves, the clapboard houses and the unique port culture (read, Russian sailors who looked a little KGB-ish) was truly unique.

-d