As we walked through the city yesterday, I was struck not only with the amount of new buildings in city centre, but also at the measures they seem to be taking during construction. There is extensive scaffolding and supports all around that seem designed to keep the building under construction from being damaged if and when there are other quakes. Since this city is really right on a fault line, quakes will happen.

My body clock is still out of adjustment. While I have slept pretty well the previous two nights probably from just catching up from the trip, last night I was up at 4:00, tried to go back to sleep, finally got up around 6:15. Part of the problem is that we get back from dinner around 9:00 or earlier and I go to bed around 10:00. So the odds of my sleeping to the alarm set for 8:00 are slim since I almost never sleep 10 hours. Also, I have a beginning of a cold from, I think, being chilled early in the trip. Hope it does not get worse and goes away soon!

This morning we are meeting at Pepperberry Café right down the block for breakfast at 8:30, but I got there at 8:00. I remember being there often five years ago. Nice place. Our gang came and went and we all congregated at the van at 10:00. Lots of stops this morning for jackets, cash, water. Finally headed out to Lylleton around 11:00 and went on the Christchurch Gondola for a view over the city and nearby Lylleton. Very nice views. Walked around the facility up there and also down a trail for a bit.

Nest headed downhill into Lyttelton for nice lunch on balcony of a café there. Once done, I wandered around the town, down to the docks, up the hill until it was time to leave. We drove back over a pass stopping here and there for the views. Got back to motel around 4:15. Too late to do much shooting since it gets dark around 5:00.

Around 6:15 we all met and walked down to the pub, Speight’s, where we had lunch the first day. As we walked, the power all around us went out. When we got to the pub, there was no power there. We waited, had drinks, and the power went back on. Finished, walked back to motel a bit before 9:00. Need to pack up tonight since we need to have our luggage out to load on the van at 7:45 sharp tomorrow AM. I’ll get up early and grab breakfast and be back here to load up. At least that’s the plan.

Too much van time today overall. Would have liked to get to the Botanical Gardens, but hope on the one day we’re back here at the end of the trip I can do that. Tomorrow to Mt. Cook!

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