He Fengchen: 9-day tour of the North and South Islands of New Zealand in 2014 (3)

He Fengchen: 9-day tour of the North and South Islands of New Zealand in 2014 (3) Phoenix He Fengchen November 10 Auckland-Christchurch Chur…

Phoenix City He Fengchen

November 10 Auckland-Christchurch-Hokitika Early in the morning, Zhao Jingping took us to the airport, flying from Auckland to Christchurch - the starting point of our 6-day South Island tour. After arriving at Christchurch Airport we met our tour guide and driver Lawson. He is originally from Hong Kong, but speaks Mandarin well. It turned out that this group was organized by the local Xanadu Travel Agency. There were 31 passengers in our car, coming from all over the world, many from China, but the largest number were from Melbourne, Australia. Lawson first took us to the city for a tour of the city, and then dropped us into an old English-style garden that was being restored and was damaged by the earthquake. The garden originally belonged to a nobleman, but has now been taken over by the government and open to the public. The garden is beautiful and quiet. During this period, the tour guide went to the airport to pick up the second group of guests, and then took us to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. After the meal, Lawson drove us around the city center to see the city. Christchurch suffered a devastating earthquake two years ago. Many buildings in the city center were damaged to varying degrees, turning what was originally a very beautiful tourist city into a "dead city." The city center we see now is full of desolation, with buildings being repaired and supported by wood to prevent collapse everywhere. The original hotels in the city center cannot be occupied. But many of the areas the car drove through were large and quiet parks, and local universities were located in the parks. Lawson proudly told us that Christchurch is recognized as the city with the largest park in the world. We stayed in the city's botanical garden and the museum next door for an hour and a half. At 3:15 we left Christchurch and headed to the jade town of Hokitika, our accommodation on the west coast. Passing through the scenic Arthur's Pass National Park, we arrived at the Beachfront Hotel in Hokitika in the evening. The weather was not kind and it started to rain heavily when we got off the bus. Fortunately, the hotel was in good condition, and the dinner was also good. We had roasted pork, fried fish, grilled chicken legs, noodles, etc. These were Chinese-style meals specially prepared for us.