Tuesday 15th February. Christchurch.

 We caught the bus into the town centre and walked into Cathedral Square which was choc a bloc with tourists, like us, wandering aimlessly around. The cathedral looks as if it should be in an English town, in fact most of Christchurch looks very English. As it is further South the vegetation is much more recognisable than where we have been staying up North. There was a busy market in the centre of the square selling tourist attractions and as I wanted to have a good look around there Nigel went off to the tourist office and I arranged to meet up with him in there. It was so busy with lots of tourists of all nationalities browsing the stalls. I finally caught up with Nigel and we were both amazed at the size of the tourist office and the amount of brochures available. We decided that tomorrow we would like to take a coach trip to Akaroa so I rang up and booked for that.  There was a huge screen in the square with a clock ticking away the days, minutes and seconds to the 2011 Rugby world cup. We then walked away from the square towards the art gallery. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant and then visited the Art Gallery, a modern building which reminded us, a bit, of the Guggenheim in Bilbao although not on such a grand scale. It was a very interesting experience and well worth the time that we spent there, free as well!! Next stop was the museum which is next to the Botanic Gardens. By this time Nigel was flagging and time was short so he did the museum and I spent a happy hour wandering round the Botanic Gardens. Apart from the ghastly, brightly coloured bedding plant borders they were indeed spectacular and well worth the visit. I could have spent much longer wandering around but I was beginning to feel the effects of a full days sightseeing and was quite happy to meet up with Nigel and find our way to the nearest bus stop to go back to home base. Once back and after a brief rest and a glass of wine I went out to do a recce of where to eat not too far away. I found an Irish pub, The Craich, which was doing a Tuesday night special of steak, mushroom sauce, onions and chips for 12nzd so back to base and tell Nigel that we didn't have far to go for a good feed! It was quiz night at the pub so that kept us entertained until our food arrived, a very good 12 dollars worth it was too.