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Feb 24-March 1 South Island

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  Christchurch Today we flew to the South Island and Christchurch.   In the early 1800s the working man’s live in England was not an enviable one.   There were no unions, child labor was common, there were poor health services, pollution was appalling and crime rampant.   Unlike Australia where prisoners were transported, New Zealand was seen as a paradise for workers.   A utopian society was planned by the Church of England and recruitment efforts led to first settlers coming to Christchurch (name obvious reference) in 1850.   Like America it was advertised has having streets of gold; what they found were streets of mudflats and tents. In the past decade this town has been defined by an earthquake.   On the early morning of September 4, 2010 a 7.1 magnitude earthquake centered around the farmlands outside of the city caused considerable damage to the city but no loss of lives.   In a sense the population thought they had been spared.  ...
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Feb 23 Wellington

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  Botanical gardens Wellington is built on hills (ie volcanoes) and looks like Portland, Oregon in having a lot more trees than San Francisco.   You get up the main hill by cable car and the gardens go down the side of the hill ending in a beautiful rose garden.   I have attached pictures of some of the plants and flowers that seem to be unique to New Zealand. Te Papa (container of treasures) museum This is another spectacular and diverse museum with exhibits ranging from native flora and fauna to Maori history to the battle of Gallipoli.    Gallipoli This battle that ended in a defeat of the allies by Turkish troops after more than 4 months of trench warfare in 1915.  It had and continue to had and still has have a great impact on the ethos of New Zealanders-pride in the soldiers who fought and devastation at the loss of a generation of young men.  A total of 130,000 lives were lost-42,000 by the British and ANZAC troops and 86,000 by the Turk...
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February 22-On the way to Wellington

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  More on Thermals Thermals play a major role in many aspects of New Zealand culture and business.   There are the “taking of the waters”, the power plants and geysers and mud spouts.   We were in one of the towns that have many “spas” which have pools of warm water (100-105 degrees F) that come from hot springs that are either alkaline or acid depending on the minerals that dissolve.   These are thought to heal everything from rheumatism to impotence and is anti-aging.   I had to try it, although Karen deferred.   You will clearly see when I return that I appear at least 20 years younger.   Actually, it was quite nice as I moved through the 7 different pools going from alkali to acid to clear.   I felt a bit like I was going through a car wash without the car.   There is also the mud spouts which reminded me of Shakespeare’s witches couplet in Macbeth: “double double toil and trouble fire burn and cauldron bubble”.   These are very ...
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