Monday, Feb. 19, Picton New Zealand

Tuesday, Feb. 20, Christchurch, New Zealand

From Ft.Lauderdale, Fla, we’ve traveled 10,789 nautical miles to get to Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island of New Zealand. It has been plagued by earthquakes which have devastated many of the buildings, including the famous Cathedral for which the city is named, as recently as 2011. Much renovation and rebuilding is ongoing. For our short visit here, we strolled around a nice Botanic Gardens, a vibrant shopping area and chased some fish & chips with an excellent local craft beer.

In Picton, we enjoyed a day-long tour of wineries in the well-known Marlborough area where the vast vineyards yield a bounty of white wines such as my favorite Sauvingnon Blanc, Chardonnay, Rose and Pinot Noir. Perhaps the most famous is Cloudy Bay, but a multitude of other outstanding wineries produce excellent wines, and we sampled many. By tour’s end, our palates were overworked, but we loved every taste. New Zealanders have reason to be proud of their wines.

New Zealand Kiwis use the phrase “Kia ora!” (pronounced kee-uh or-uh) when toasting with glasses of wine or craft beer, symbolizing well-being and positivity.

The Bridge of Remembrance is a war memorial was repaired and reinforced after the 2011 earthquake and rededicated in 2016.