New Zealand, November 24-27, 2007

In Canterbury, the region surrounding Christchurch, we spent three nights in the Sherwood Lodge, a small inn nestled in the foothills among sheep stations. We passed many flocks in the course of a long walk in the hills but were mortified when the sheep fled as we approached. At the lodge the hospitality was warm and the food delicious, but the changeable spring weather included a cold snap that left snow in the mountains behind the lodge.


Three of many, many, many . . . (although the sheep-to-person ratio in New Zealand has now dropped below 10:1)


Dining at Sherwood Lodge


View from our balcony at Sherwood Lodge with new snow on the mountains


We spent one day in Christchurch, billed as New Zealand’s most English city, with the Avon River running through its center and an extraordinarily beautiful botanic garden. However, Christchurch also serves as the jumping-off point for U.S., New Zealand, and Italian operations in Antarctica, and we were intrigued by a visit to the Antarctic Center, built to explain the Far South to interested visitors. One of the center’s star attractions is a colony of rare Blue Penguins.


Bridge of Remembrance over Avon River, Christchurch


Water Garden in Christchurch Botanic Gardens


Christchurch in bloom


Blue Penguins (the world's smallest) at Antarctic Center, Christchurch


Dunedin, supposedly New Zealand’s most Scottish city, lay between Sherwood Lodge and Te Anau, our next destination, so we decided to make a quick stop there. Our tour included the extraordinarily Victorian railway station and the Octagon, the city’s central park, which (needless to say) features a statue of Robert Burns. The whole town reminded Georgia very much of Aberdeen.


Railway Station, Dunedin


Robert Burns statue before Municipal Building, Dunedin