The morning started at an ungodly hour, but after a dash to catch my bus to Kaikoura it was sleepy time for the 3.5 hour bus ride.  Its a beautiful town.  Huge mountains give way to lush, green hills/farmland give way to the ocean.  Upon arrival I headed to the tourist centre to find out what Kaikoura had to offer.  They have scuba diving, kayaking, whale watching, and swimming with the dolphins, but they are a little costly.  I got some ...

This one will be quick as I have to be up early in the morning, not a happy time, and am going to try to post pics after this (no promises)!  It was an easy day.  I took a gondola ride up the volcanic rim that separates Lyttleton from Christchurch.  At the top, I hired a mountain bike for a 16 km ride to the bottom.  It was a little pricey, but I'm glad I did it.  About 80% of the ride was either really hard or really easy, though eno...

The morning came early with a shuttle ride from French Connection to Akaroa.  The first stop along the route was Birdling's Flat Beach.  You dig through the rocks around the seashore to get colored stones.  I bent over and lo and behold, my shorts split from the top to bottom on the rear side.  Not a happy moment!  I managed to get a long sleeve shirt off from under the shirt sleeve one and tie it around my waist whilst moving away fr...

ever been to, but it was still fun to go from booth to booth.  I got wool socks for a bargain, they have more sheep than people here so go figure.  The socks are great, Marion is going to get more for me before she leaves for Vail this winter.  Yeah!!!!  Around lunch time people started coming over for a BBQ and Bathhurst.  Its a big car race through country roads surrounding Bathurst, Australia.&nb...

After the morning formalities it was off to the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Museum.  It was outstanding!  The do some special tours of planes and an area where they restore antique aircraft.  There were exhibits of RNZAF's history, Spy and escape items, WII on the homefront, and WWII.  It has only been in the last couple of years that I began to realize NZ's contributions to the wars the US fought in.  This was very good a...