SHE CAME, SHE SAW, SHE CONQUERED

We have just returned from the airport after depositing Mom for her first airplane leg of 3 today and we are reflecting on all that we saw and participated in. My mom is simply amazing, as I don’t know many people that would hop on a multi-leg 24 hr. airplane journey by themselves! She did it, and we were thrilled to have her here and amazed at how quickly the time passed! We picked her up from Christchurch airport on one of the hottest days of the year, and needless to say, she was slightly wilted, but none the worse for wear. After settling in for oh, 12 hrs, we were off to see the sights. We took in the Botanic Gardens, with roses and dahlias ablaze and beautiful statuary. As we expected, mom was impressed with the trees. They are simply HUGE here and impossible to capture in a picture, but so impressive. We visited the Cathedral Square,the Canterbury Museum, our favourite restaurant, Strawberry Fare, our football bar, No. 4, attended services at the Christ Church Cathedral,rode the bus to the mall for a movie on a very rainy day, grocery shopped, visited the local shipping port and 2 farmer’s markets.
After a week of local sites, Jon booked a rental car, a very new and nice Toyota Corolla, and in keeping with family tradition of naming our cars, he called it the Patty-wagon. We were off to visit the whales in Kaikoura, north of Christchurch. We drove in on a beautiful sunny day and confirmed our reservations to go out on the boat the next day, weather-permitting. Weather did NOT permit, so we booked another night's stay in Kaikoura, drove up the coast to Blenheim, on the way we stopped to watch seals on the rocks and drove out to see a large saltworks operation in Marlbourgh Sound. We also wandered off the path by car through the Yealands vineyards outside of Seddon (they are the largest winery in NZ) and couldn't believe the miles and miles of vineyards. The next day, our whale watching was rewarded, and as luck would have it, we were treated to a very rare sighting of a Blue Whale. It is the largest mammal living, and to put it into perspective, you could park a VW beetle in it’s heart!!! We were treated to sighting of 3 other Sperm Whales and about a dozen Hector dolphins. The dolphins are rare and only found in NZ, so that was fun.

Following our whale-watching fun, we departed for our next destination of Hanmer Springs. It is an alpine resort area that reminded us of Sun Valley or the Leavenworth/Plain area (not as commercial). Hanmer Springs has natural sulphur springs, but they have also created large, natural-looking hot pools and a huge area for families. All the hot pools are heated to different temperatures and so we spent a very relaxing evening “soaking” up the local feature. We had such nice accommodations, that we extended a night and spent 2 days in Hanmer Springs. The weather was overcast, but it was just so relaxing, and we had 2 very unique meals at the local restaurants, it was a great visit. We returned to Christchurch in time to “surprise” mom with a booking for a hot-air balloon ride. We booked the ride for her birthday on the 20th, but after 6 failed attempts (weather problems) we had to call it quits. That was probably the only thing we didn’t do or see. We took a couple day trips in the Patty-wagon to Akaroa, Methven and Geraldine and we spend a wonderful day at the regional Waipara wine festival, good wine, food and GREAT music. Jon was an excellent driver, and was very tolerant of our wanting to stop and take pictures. We saw everything, and every night we would settle into our recliners and predictably, mom would fall asleep at 8:30 (Jon called it her Patty-melt).

All too soon it was over and we had to put mom back on the plane, what an adventure. We will be home in a few weeks, and are looking forward to seeing all of you. Bring on the spring weather, we are experiencing fall/spring weather now!!!!
Jon and Joyce