Black Sheep begins

We returned to Christchurch from Arthur's Pass via the afternoon train. It was a hard place to leave. A hiking Backroads group arrived our second day and we reconnected with several from our trip. Christchurch was again rainy when we arrived and we ended up with a late dinner at Sophie's which turned out to be a famous spot for mountains of food.


The next day we wandered into the neighborhood mall for some staples. The earthquake devastation was everywhere. Here is a Chinese Methodist church.



The mall was closing because of a recent inspection. The sign in the picture says everything is free.


The black Sheep tour began the following noon.
We met Moira, a woman with Maori ancestry, who is fluent in English as well as the Maori language. Very knowledgable.



We left Christchurch, the third largest New Zealand city with 330,000 people (Auckland and Wellington are 1& 2), heading back north toward Nelson. A wonderful lunch at a former but remodeled train station;


then continued through beautiful mountainous terrain


to a seaside village of Kaikoura, where we boarded a boat for a swim with the seals! A ride through heavy ocean swells to rock "islands", then into frigid water (wearing wet suits). A single seal swam by, although there were more than 100 on the rocky pinnacles. The ocean swim was an adventure, however - lots of fun but tiring. The huge bonus of our sea adventure was the pod of Orcas (killer whales) that appeared next to our boat and swam alongside us for hundreds of yards, sometimes at a distance of no more than 15 yards! No pictures, as our cameras were on dry land...darn!

This is the view out our motel window


Dinner tonight at the White Morph, named after a large Southern White Petrel. Outstanding crayfish, their term for lobster. Tomorrow, an airplane flight to search for whales, then on to Nelson.