Our second port of call, on this ten day cruising adventure, was Christchurch.

This is considered the most English of all of New Zealand's cities. The First Four Ships were chartered by the Canterbury Association and brought the Canterbury Pilgrims from Britain to Lyttelton Harbor (the same harbor in which we arrived, above) in 1850.
To begin our explore of the city, we walked over the Bridge of Remembrance. Opened on Armistice Day 1924, the central frame of the arch has the emotional inscription Quid non pro patria (What will a man not do for his country). What a somber and powerful welcoming.
How cute is the Christchurch tramway? Historically, it was an extensive network, with steam and horse trams from 1882 and then electric trams ran from 1905 to 1954 until it was replaced by buses. In 1995, 1.6 mi central city loop heritage tram was reopened in the central city as a tourist attraction. We needed to walk so we didn't ride it but we appreciated its heritage and cuteness.

I was drawn to this building and later found out why. The Chief Post Office (1878) was initially a post office with Immigration, Customs and Public Works departments. In 1881, New Zealand’s first telephone exchange was installed in the building. Post services were offered from the building until 2000 when it was re-purposed to house a Christchurch tourist information center and a restaurant, café and offices. Following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake the building closed. Sadly, it is still not in use.

The city suffered a series of earthquakes (it was estimated to be around 1,000) from September 2010, with the most destructive occurring on 22 February 2011, in which 185 people were killed and thousands of buildings across the city suffered severe damage, with many central city buildings collapsing, leading to ongoing recovery and rebuilding projects. Here it is 14 years later and much of the damage is still very visible. It is a horrible scar that remains. The Memorial Wall is place to reflect on these earthquakes that changed Christchurch forever. So very, very sad.

A new public library rose from the rubble and it was our destination. Tūranga is the most important public library in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was opened in October 2018 and replaced the central library nearby, which was destroyed by the earthquake in 2011.

These props were from a previous exhibit but we couldn't resist. I don't know when I would ever get the chance to sit on a penny-farthing again!

We were there for the exhibition Tuakiri Investigates: Diaries and Letters Home. "Diaries and letters that normally hide in our Archives are being highlighted in this interesting exhibition focusing on war correspondence."
"Come and see the personal letters, diaries, photos, records and medals of some local soldiers. Read what the war was really like for these local lads and how important it was to keep in touch with family and friends and to record events as they happened."



Decidedly not as great as the waterfall filling my coffee cup but fun none-the-less.
James Cook. Captain of the Royal Navy and first who hoisted the British Flag in New Zealand.
This beautiful walking bridge once held rails. For 74 years public trams operated here (1880-1954). Wild.
Seen often, I love the Paradise Shelduck.
Such a mixture of new and old architecture. Very, very cool.


"Captain Robert Falcon Scott CVO was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery expedition of 1901–04 and the Terra Nova expedition of 1910–13." This statue was sculpted by his widow in 1917. He perished in 1912 on an expedition.
Many treasures of his were found.
His life demands a more thorough read. Wow.

We concluded our explore at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. Founded in 1863 when an English oak was planted to commemorate the solemnization of the marriage of Prince Albert and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, it is a perfect way to end a day.

Meet William Sefton Moorhouse (1825-1881) who twice served as the Canterbury Provincial Superintendent. The inscription on the stone plinth reads: "William Sefton Moorhouse to whose energy and perseverance Canterbury owes the tunnel between port and plains." Aesthetically, the statue can be considered as belonging to the Victorian New Sculpture style. Who knew?!

This Giant Sequoia, from California, was planted by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1860.
What a great tree to hug!

It was an easy going day of exploration. Here's to more left to be discovered.

We spent my 63rd birthday in delightful Dunedin, New Zealand.

Dunedin is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from Dùn Èideann ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The city has a rich Māori, Scottish, and Chinese heritage.

A Scottish settlement was established in 1848 by the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland and between 1855 and 1900 many thousands of Scots emigrated to the incorporated city. Dunedin's population and wealth boomed during the 1860s' Otago gold rush, and for a brief period of time it became New Zealand's largest urban area. This is a town of churches and we chose to visit St. Paul's Cathedral as our introduction to its religious history.

St Paul's Cathedral (1915-2003) is an Anglican cathedral church located in the heart of the city. The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Dunedin and the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Dunedin. It was the perfect spot to sit, reflect, and launch our day.

A must was a visit to the Railway Station (1906), a prominent landmark and tourist site in town. It is speculated by locals to be the most photographed building in the country, as well as the second most photographed in the southern hemisphere, after the Sydney Opera House.






It was designed by George Troup, in the Flemish Renaissance style, and it is his most famous design. It earned Troup the nickname of "Gingerbread George". WOW.

Behind me is the amazing Law Courts building. Dunedin's first permanent Court House and Prison were built on a narrow shelf of reclaimed land at the foot of Bell Hill in 1859. The Court House and Prison were part of the first group of public buildings which accompanied Dunedin's development from a struggling settlement to an established town. Both buildings were replaced by the present Law Courts and adjacent Police Station which were designed by the Government Architect John Campbell and built between 1895 and 1902. The architecture here is absolutely stunning and can attest to the success of the Gold Rush.

Here, too, we met Robert Burns. Born 1759 in Ayrshire, Scotland, he overcame poverty to become the National Poet of Scotland and is remembered worldwide for his poetry and song, written in Scots and English. Among his masterpieces are Auld Lang Syne, A Red, Red Rose and Scots Wha Hae. He died in 1796 and is immortalized in Dunedin's first public sculpture, unveiled in 1887. Interestingly, the poet's nephew, the Rev Thomas Burns, was a co-founder of the Otago settlement (1848) and Presbyterian minister of Dunedin's First Church.


We even saw the oldest library in New Zealand. Pukehiki Library was founded in 1896 by public subscriptions.