Christchurch Tram and Botanic Gardens

We had greatly enjoyed our trip to Spain in October, 2019, but dealing with the hordes of other tourists who seemed to be everywhere was difficult at times. For our next trip, I wanted to visit someplace quieter with scenery that could be viewed without people pressing in on all sides. In 2015 we had limited our travels in New Zealand to the North Island. I decided that the time had come to visit the South.

There wasn't a lot of time to plan the trip, so I relied mainly on the wonderful website I had used to plan our previous trip to the North Island www.newzealand.com. I simply modified one of their suggested itineraries for traveling around the South Island to suit our interests. Although it's a long flight, getting to New Zealand and Australia from Hawaii is so much easier than getting to Europe, and flying Premium Economy on Air New Zealand is a great way to go. We enjoyed a pleasant flight to Auckland, spent a night near the airport in an amusing hotel, and continued on to Christchurch the next day.

The station for the local variant of the ubiquitous Hop-On Hop-Off bus was just beside the hotel. Quite honestly, the tram doesn't travel very far. It meanders through Cathedral Square and travels about 5 blocks in each direction through the downtown area. At one point, it actually stops, reverses directions, and returns down the street it has just come up. It does, however, provide a pleasant way for the first time visitor to become oriented and it stops at several tourist attractions. We bought a pass for the day and disembarked at the botanical garden.

The building on the left is the Canterbury Museum, which is located just beside the garden.

We wandered past some tall trees and stately flower beds and came upon the Peacock Fountain.

Although the fountain is widely photographed and much admired by tourists, some prominent members of the local populace have been less appreciative. The project was initiated in the late 1800's when a local businessman and politician named John Peacock bequeathed a substantial sum to the city in his will with the stipulation that the money be used to beautify the gardens. A fountain was commissioned, but when it was unveiled, the head of the Canterbury College School of Art stated that "it exhibited no more taste than the gaudy decoration used by traveling showmen to embellish their merry-go-rounds."

The fountain also experienced maintenance problems so it was dismantled in 1949 and put into storage. Years passed. Some of the stored pieces disappeared; others deteriorated. Finally in 1996, the fountain was restored with a new color scheme. Unfortunately, it was still derided. One letter to the local paper claimed that looking at it could "cause flu-like symptoms."

Personally, I like merry-go-rounds and I enjoyed seeing the fountain.

Further inside the park in an area known as the Archery Lawn, we came upon this abstract water sculpture called "Regret". Unfortunately, we didn't realize that you can press the lever on the right to make water shoot into the air. The work is by local sculptor and author Sam Mahon.

March is Autumn in New Zealand, and many flowers were still in bloom. We wandered among the roses and dahlias and many other types of unfamiliar flowers. The gardens also feature a number of greenhouses which display tropical plants, ferns, cacti, and other plants which would not survive in the outdoors.

The garden also features a World Peace Bell cast from coins and metals around the world and mixed with copper.

When we returned to the tram stop we were amused by a bus that takes tourists to the International Antarctic Centre located near the airport. We passed on visiting this tourist attraction which features a storm dome where you can discover how a wind chill of -18 degrees Celsius feels and plunge your hand into icy cold Antarctic water. Five winters in Winnipeg where Walt attended graduate school were close enough to a polar experience for us.

Our hotel was adjacent to New Regent Street - a block of restaurants and stores built in the 1930's in Spanish Mission architectural style. It was easy to fall into the habit of having breakfast at the Coffee Corner directly across the street and enjoying drinks and dinner at Casa Publica at the far end of the block. The picture in the second row on the right is french toast in the Coffee Corner as it always seems to be served in New Zealand - piled up on the plate and topped with bacon and fried banana. Casa Publica specialized in huge skewers of meat served up South American style. On our first night there we were entertained by an exuberent waiter named Elijah who told us it was his last night working there. When Walt asked if he could take a picture of the bar's collection of over 200 types of rum, Elijah offered to pose in front of them.

Christchurch has a wide variety of ethnic restaurants. We enjoyed a snack of Malaysian food at a little fast food sort of stand one afternoon.