Day 7 Rotorua & Christchurch, NZ

Breakfast at the hotel. Checked out.

NO RAIN today! First sunny day since I arrived.

Bus to the National Kiwi Hatchery at Rainbow Springs. They do amazing work, preserving the national bird (1 species anyway), the kiwi. They do this by gathering eggs in the wild (before they can be eaten by dogs, stoats, rats, mice, hedgehogs). They get them to the hatchery (various means of transportation) where they are cared for until after they hatch. When they're old enough they're released into the wild. Since opening in 1995, they've hatched 2,381 chicks; 108 already this year. We got to see a couple of them that had hatched recently (1 was very active). We watched another get his daily weigh-in and antibiotics put on his belly button. He didn't seem too pleased by the process. 

Then we drove to the cute Rotorua airport. We had our boxed lunches in the Cafe, overlooking the runway. We saw several odd small planes take off. They had a propeller AND a helicopter-like blade.

We said goodbye to Ian and boarded our small plane. It was a good thing it was a short flight or I would have killed the little girl behind me who kicked my seat, slammed her tray table up and down, and sang (offkey) the entire flight. 

We met our Christchurch site coordinator, Steve Garland, gathered our luggage, and walked what felt like a mile to our bus. The weather was GLORIOUS! 

We drove straight to the International Antarctic Centre. New Zealand is one of the 12 original signers of the Antarctic Treaty System. It was fun comparing notes about my Antarctica trip with our guide. The 4D movie was fun, simulating the crossing of the Drake Passage with our seats banging into icebergs and being sprayed by waves. We saw the tiny blue penguins being fed. Several of us braved the -1 degree (with wind chill) Storm Dome.

Next we drove to the Riccarton House and Bush (gardens). We had lovely tours of the gardens and huge (11,000 Square feet) house. Our delicious dinner (best meal so far) was in an elegant dining room. With after-dinner coffee and tea in hand, we retired to another room where we were highly entertained by a Te Puna Ora storyteller, Margaret Copland, playing two characters. She introduced the experience of early immigrants to Canterbury.

We then drove to the Novotel Christchurch Cathedral Square Hotel, right across the street from the (earthquake-destroyed) Christchurch Cathedral. Our luggage was waiting for us in our rooms. It was a big day. I'm going to sleep well tonight. 

Photo: sunset from my room at the Novotel Christchurch Cathedral Square Hotel