Touring, Day 1

We are now officially at our destination! We arrived in Christchurch last night at about midnight. We checked in to a hotel and were all asleep the minute our heads hit the pillow. I was so grateful for a proper bed after 41 hours of travel. The stopover in Sydney, Australia was a refreshing change from being seated for 15 hours on the flight from Vancouver. Since we had about twelve hours between flights, we decided to leave the airport and tour for a while. This also served to get us all exhausted enough so that we would sleep soundly (I think I was asleep before our next flight even left the ground). The tour was short but sweet. We saw the Sydney opera house, walked through the botanical gardens, and stopped for ice cream (chocolate, of course).
I was worried by the fact that it was so hot in Australia (even though it was only the end of winter) and so was quite relieved when we landed in Christchurch and found that the weather was quite moderate. In fact, today (Monday) was overcast and slightly windy, but not too cold so that we had to wear big sweaters.
After sleeping in this morning, we packed up out gear, rented a car, and headed out to Orana Wildlife Park. We saw cute little meerkats (that weren’t so cute when they started growling and fighting over pieces of meat), tons of birds that came right up close, beautiful lions, rhinos with kind eyes, wild dogs, cheetahs, lemurs, spider monkeys (it was really neat to see them climbing using their tail as both balance and as a fifth hand), and best of all, kiwis. Kiwis actually look remarkably like the fruit that shares their name. They look quite funny but also rather huggable. Since kiwis are nocturnal, they are kept inside in an artificial night environment so that visitors can see them during the day. There is a lighting system all along the ceiling which lights up during the night to make these birds think it is day so that they will be out when the visitors are there.. The best part about this park was that they had a feeding schedule that allowed visitors to make their way around the park while stopping at certain exhibits to see the animals up close as they were fed. This also gave us a chance to talk to the park volunteers and learn more about the animals.