Travels with Ian to the South Island

Greetings from the Christchurch gondola.

Izzy's 27 year-old son, Ian, was our first visitor from the States. He was in New Zealand for 10 days and then continued his adventures in Sydney for a week. We had a wonderful time exploring parts Wellington and parts of the South Island with him. Ian's favorite activity was our trip to Parliament. New Zealand has only one parliamentary body, the House of Representatives. It is modeled after the British House of Commons. We were there during the questioning period. It is interesting because any member can submit a question to governing party. There was a lot of shouting, chuckling and laughter from the opposing members. Finally, the Speaker had enough and she evicted 3 members. What we could understand of the questioning was fascinating, but the accents and fast speaking did make it difficult for us.

I just couldn't resist this picture at the Wellington zoo. The ostrich kept posing for me and then she did a wild and crazy dance that was hard to capture on film.

Ian pretending to be one of the animals at the zoo.

The ferry crossing from the North Island to the South Island. The body of water is the Cook Strait - the crossing takes 3 and a half hours. The ferry is very modern, complete with restaurants, bars and two cinemas showing current releases

Ian shunning the paparazzi. Ian is a rep for eye glass frames and always has the most stylist shades (or sunnies in Kiwi-speak).

Following the ferry, we took the TransCoastal train to Kaikoura. This beautiful coastal town on the east coast of the South Island is famous for whale and dolphin watching and delicious lobster. We plan on swimming with the dolphins this summer when my sister and her husband visit.

We spotted four sperm whales on our whale watch. I got lots of great pictures because the guide was able to tell us when the whales were going to dive.

These small Hector's Dolphins are some of the rarest in the world.

We sampled some wonderful wines at the Kaikoura winery.

After spending the night in Kaikoura, we took the train to Christchurch. The coastal views were spectacular.

These cute Little Blue Penguins were at the Antarctica encounter in Christchurch. Kiwis love Antarctica and are very proud of their station in Antarctica called Scott Base - it is near the US Antarctic station, McMurdo. Most of the early explorers of Antarctica left for their journeys from New Zealand.

Christchurch is the headquarters of the US Antarctic Program. All scientists prepare for their trip and leave from here.

Christchurch is the most English city in NZ and filled with art. It is known as the Garden City. We plan to go back in the summer when my sister and her husband visit.

The old college in Christchurch transformed into the Arts Center.

Izzy and Ian sample some of the great Kiwi wines. Pinot Noirs and Sauvignon Blancs are the most popular wines. The wine industry is booming. They use screw tops instead of corks except on exports to the US. We still enjoy the allure of opening a fine bottle of wine with a cork, but screw tops sure make it easier. The wine growers are convinced that screw tops preserve wine better than cork.

We took a scenic 8 hour train trip through the Southern Alps. There were thousands of sheep all spooked by the train.

Spectacular scenery!!!!!!

More Christchurch art.

The Avon River in Christchurch.

In addition to raising 40 million sheep in NZ, they raise deer. These deer are running from the train. Every menu has venison on it. Izzy and I have not been tempted by the venison but Ian had pasta with venison meat balls.

We really enjoyed Ian's visit.

It was a sad day when he left.

Our next mini-vacation is at the end of August when we will visit Auckland and the Bay of Islands.