New Zealand Christchurch July 2024 Part 2

Early in the morning CJ is all dressed up with nowhere to go. He made bookings for a shuttle, lift tickets, and skis at Mount Hutt. T

The shuttle is a 0700 no show. It appears Mount Hutt is living up to its Mount "Shut" nickname.

Rain keeps us indoors and finds us at the Victoria Free House for dinner again. 

We begin the next morning walking across Victoria Square and onto the Quake Museum.

It is a short walk from the Quake Musuem to Riverside Market along the river. It is a pretty walk past period buildings, post-quake redevelopment, along the tram line, and into the center of the business district.

From there we return to Riverside Market for a pizza lunch and beers at the Cooperative. The boys aren't there but manager Mel, an equally personable lady is. The pizza from a nearby vendor is very good, as is more of the same beer.

That evening Morgane's tip for her three marvelous times serving us was dinner at the Cellar Door and an evening of wine education by CJ. We have a great evening enjoying another five flights, some different. The elderly couple at the adjacent table become fascinated by CJ's wine narrative. At our invitation, they pull their table over join us.

On the way to the airport for our return flight we visit the International Antarctica Centre. First up we ride the Hägglunds, the tank-like vehicle used in Antarctica.

Does Carol look like she's having a fun ride?

Following the ride we tour the center.

The last time we arrived in Sydney, they conveyed Carol in a motorized wheelchair. CJ nearly had a heart attack chasing. This time they have a cool device that attaches to the front of her motorized wheelchair. CJ also gets to ride.

For all the bad things you hear about Qantas service, we have three attendants escort us from the plane through the priority line at immigration, all the way to where we meet the bus to transfer to the domestic terminal.  They pull our luggage, help us through customs and security, and are very friendly.