Christchurch

Yesterday we had a perfect day in Christchurch. In the morning we rode on the Weka Pass Railway steam train through the fertile Canterbury plains. The scenery of the countryside is so beautiful; since it is springtime here, there were blossoms everywhere, and newborn lambs by the hundreds all along the way. We were told NZ has 10 times the number of sheep as people, and we believe it!
After the train trip, we stopped at a winery for wine tasting and lunch on their patio. The next stop on our tour was the International Antarctic Centre, an actual working research campus for scientists from the US, Italy and NZ. The interactive displays were very well done. One of the best was the 'simulated Antarctic storm' room. We were provided parkas, then stepped into the ice-floored room to experience conditions where the temperature and wind made the wind chill factor feel like 27 degrees below zero. We have a new respect for the those Antarctic research scientists!