South Island, New Zealand Travel Log 1

Kia Ora friends! I am finally on the mend and ready to start blogging about my adventures visiting the South Island (Māori: Te Waipounamu) of New Zealand. I was extremely blessed to travel with my momma and second dad and make some very special memories. For me, this was the trip of a lifetime and I must say, New Zealand has my heart - it truly is a magical country. This was a BIG trip, and as always, I took thousands of photos...so I will be breaking my trip up into multiples posts and mostly let my images do the talking. I hope some of my photos will inspire and enlighten you...but if not, don't worry, I will be back to my regular cross stitch and quilting posts very soon...

We arrived in Christchurch a couple days before our hiking tour of the South Island started. We stayed in a contemporary, boutique hotel in a lovely location, with many things to do/see within walking distance. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and found many of the local cafés and restaurants were closed, but we found an American café right across the street - this made me chuckle as we had just traveled halfway around the world to have American food. After lunch, my momma and I walked to North Central City and enjoyed the fountains and gardens. I fell in love with the Ferrier Fountain at Town Hall, as (to me) it looked like dandelions blowing in the wind...

Diner 66 Christchurch

Diner 66 Christchurch

Diner 66 Christchurch

Ferrier Fountain, Town Hall

Ferrier Fountain, Town Hall

The following day, we had a wonderful breakfast at our hotel restaurant (The Lane), then we explored the very impressive Christchurch Botanic Gardens (again, within walking distance of our hotel) and had lunch at The Dish Asian Fusion restaurant. While my parents rested in the afternoon, I did a little exploring and some cross stitching. That evening we had a delicious diner at The Lane. It was an early night for us, as our two-week hiking tour started bright and early the next morning...

The Lane

Diminish and Ascend - a 13 meter receding perspective staircase
made from aluminum in the Kiosk Lake of the Botanic Gardens.

Peacock Fountain - Christchurch Botanic Gardens

The Dish Asian Fusion

The Lane

I hope you are enjoying my photo journey of the South Island. I will be back very soon with my next travel log. Thank you for visiting!