South Island

We were able to snag a great deal on airfare to Christchurch, so we took the kids out of school for three days and jammed in a lot of sightseeing in a short period of time. The scenery was beatiful - a mixture of rocky New England Beaches, California Hills and Rocky Mountains. For pictures, click here.

Christchurch:

We took a couple of trips downtown and walked around Cathedral Square. We stopped into the Cathedral and listened to the Boys Choir rehearsing. We were also able to ride a cable car and get a guided tour of the city. For pictures, click here.

International Antarctic Centre:

Christchurch is the "gateway" to Antartica. The International Antarctic Centre is home to the New Zealand, United States and Italian Antarctic Programs. We took a tour of the Centre and saw NZ Blue Penguins and went into a snow and ice filled room and experienced a simulated Antarctic Storm. It reminded us of January in Pennsylvania! For pictures, click here.

Willowbank Reserve:

We also visited a nature reserve. The Wallabies were roaming about -- but the kids didn't get too close. Lexie was especially excited to see the Kiwis again. For pictures, click here.

Christchurch Gondola:

We took a ride up a gondola and got some fantastic views of the ocean, Cashmere Hills and Southern Alps. We took a hike that exhausted Rachel. For pictures, click here.

Sumner:

We had a couple from West Chester join our tour -- lucky for us, they had paid for a personal tour of the area, so we were able to get an added little trip to the bay to see a really cool beach town with a cave and great rocks to climb. For pictures, click here.