It's now Wednesday and we're in Christchurch. On Monday Jane kayaked in Abel Tasman to Apple Rock.(picture on the right). Then paddled back and met Bob for lunch.

We then rode a boat out to Tonga Rock in the park. Saw a couple of seal pups along the way. At Tonga Rock we hiked on the Abel Tasman track for the afternoon. The track goes along some ridges and then as you can see onto the beach. We hiked for a couple of hours and then took another boat back to the beginning. We had gorgeous summer weather and of course it was beautiful.

The next day the weather changed and we headed to Kaikoura on the opposite coast. We passed through the vineyards around Blenheim and had lunch at this one. We are trying all the Sauvignon Blancs and have had some really excellent wines. Unfortunately, we have had to test our rain gear today.

The ride along the coast to Kaikoura was along the sea and quite beautiful. In Kaikoura, home of many seals and lots of whale boat excursions, we walked to Seal Park and then walked up a hill overlooking the harbor. We were glad we did that last night, as this morning it was very foggy and wet this morning.

This is the cathedral in Christchurch. Tomorrow we meet the people on our bike tour and get our bikes and take a little ride around Christchurch and then on Friday the real bike riding begins. It's not clear what kind of weather we're going to have, but I think there's some wetness in our future. Below is the Rose window in the cathedral. The cathedral is intersting in that all the struts and interior supports (with the exception of the column) are wooden. Hope for sunny weather for us.