Today, we visited Christchurch, New Zealand. This city is home to almost 350,000 people. A large portion of the area is devoted to public parks, recreation grounds, and reserves. Christchurch is the third largest city in New Zealand. The local economy is driven by farming, fishing, and tourism. Approximately fifty cruise ships now visit this area and this is expected to increase significantly next year.
We awoke early this morning for our daily workout in the Fitness Center. It is a pleasure to just walk up a couple of flights of steps and we are ready to workout. Keith worked out on the elliptical machine and Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill. It was not too crowded as many of the passengers have shore excursions planned for today. Keith talked with Mary for a good portion of his workout.
We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in the Lido Café. We sat with three other passengers and spoke with several others. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast since we did not have a tour planned for today. As we arrived in Christchurch it was raining quite hard and some passengers were hoping that their excursions might be canceled as some involved boat trips.
During the captain’s daily report he mentioned that periods of rain were in the forecast throughout the day. The captain’s thought of the day is “Sometimes forgetting is just as important as remembering.” This is so very true in many ways.
All passenger’s have been reminded several times, starting in Auckland, that the New Zealand Department of Agriculture Regulations forbids taking food products ashore. When we went down to the main lobby local authorities were on board the ship along with a dog and even though we did not have any food with us the dog went up to us and was sniffing our backpack. Interestingly enough, Anne Marie had a small cosmetic bag in the backpack. She had carried that cosmetic bag inside a different bag this morning and that bag had a banana in it, which we took to the Lido Café just in case they didn’t have any bananas out. So, while we didn’t have any food with us, the cosmetic bag must have had a scent from the banana that the dog picked up. It was also a very cute dog. ☺
Crystal provided a complimentary shuttle to take passengers from the area where the ship was docked over to the town. We traveled approximately eight miles in each direction with each ride taking about 30 minutes. It rained during our entire stay in the town and the rain was much needed as they have been experiencing a drought for most of this summer. The town seemed quite nice and we walked around for a little while before we took the shuttle back to the ship.
We ate lunch in the main dining room and enjoyed a very nice lunch. In the afternoon we relaxed on the ship and took care of a few errands.
This evening we attended Sabbath Eve services. We said our prayers for a friend and for his lovely wife.
After the service, we dined in Silk Road, which is the Japanese Specialty Restaurant. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner with outstanding service.
Keith & Anne Marie
