Thurs. Nov. 1: Homestay evaluation followed by "History of Canterbury" lecture by Grahame Price. Morning tea followed by lunch on our own. We ate at "Dux Delux", a very good vegetarian/seafood restaurant. We did email, looked around in the former university buildings turned arts center. At 2 PM we joined the group (split into three parts) for a guided city tour, starting from Cathedral Square. We all had dinner at Annie's Wine Bar at 6 PM.

Fri.Nov.2: Excellent lecture at 9 AM by Alan McRobie on the Politics and Economics of New Zealand. 11 AM shuttlebus to Mt. Cavendish Gondola with time to view exhibits. Views of the Lyttelton Harbor. Lunch in café at top. Rest of afternoon free. Walked in fabulous Botanic Gardens across the street from the YMCA where we stayed. Lois had a sore throat. Dinner at 5:45 PM. Lecture on "The American Connection" (whalers) with Gordon Ogilvie at 6:45 PM. Very good talk.

Sat.Nov.3: 9AM coach trip to French settlement of Akaroa. Gordon Ogilvie lectured en route--outstanding guide!!. Morning tea at Little River. Lunch in Akaroa. Unfortunately the weather was terrible so the harbour cruise was cancelled. We walked around in the rain for awhile visiting shops. Lois quite miserable with a sore throat. Dinner at YMCA at 6:30 pm. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf" at 7:30 PM. Extremely well done.

Sun. Nov.4: Lois visited a doctor and got started on antibiotics and got some rest. We had lunch with the group in the museum café followed by a guided walk in the Botanic Gardens. Dinner was on our own, at Viaduct restaurant.

Mon. Nov.5: Bus left at 8:30 AM to take us to the train station. We took the 9 AM trans-alpine express to Arthur's Pass. Beautiful day. Lovely 2 and a half hour train trip. John Charles spoke to us at the Conservation Department about Arthur's Pass. He has lived there over 30 years. We walked to lunch at the Chalet Restaurant. After lunch we were bused to a look out where we had the good fortune to see kea parrots. We then did the "Dobson Walk" with John Charles. Very pretty. We returned by coach to Christchurch, leaving Arthur's Pass around 3 PM. At 6:30 PM we had a farewell diner at the Arts Center. Don and Lois each read a Dave Barry piece -- Don had located them on the internet. Sue and Carole read clever limericks they had written about each of us in the group.

Tues. Nov.6: We left at 9:15 AM for the Antarctic Center where Sally, the Education Officer, lectured us on penguins, travel to Antarctica, etc. Lois got to experience all the clothes that folks must wear who travel to mainland Antarctic. We had lunch at noon, then returned to visit exhibits until 2 PM when we left for the airport. Flight to Auckland left at 4:30 PM

Arts Center	Botanic Gardens	Lyttelton Harbor	Trolley on pedestrian shopping street
Farewell dinner in the Arts Center

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