Sunday September 26 – Day Lights Saving in New Zealand

Canterbury Museum
Botanical Garden Walk - this place was big and beautiful
Christchurch Cathedral

This morning a strange sound played shortly after I woke up and I couldn’t figure out what it was. I got ready and headed down to the lobby 45 minutes early thinking I’d get a free computer for some internet time and found out what the sound was. They’d called my room to tell me the flight to the Ice was cancelled for 24 hours and that we wouldn’t be leaving till Monday. Well I was already up and awake so I hung out for a while with others that had missed the call and then wandered the morning away with a friend looking for a place to eat breakfast. Only on Sundays in the early mornings nothing is open. We did find one place and I got a Celtic Pancake which was like nothing I’ve had before. I can’t even describe it but I enjoyed it.

Hey Mary guess what, I got to taste Iron Bru. Not that great but for breakfast this morning someone ordered a Scottish Breakfast and it came with an Iron Bru. Thought of you and the story you told me about it when you were in Ireland.

Oh hey today is Daylight Savings time here so all the clocks were pushed forward one hour. Is it the same in the States? I can’t remember?

Got back to the hotel and saw people waiting at the shuttle. Headed to the ECW for more travel funds then decided to make it a free day and wondered around doing all the things you could for free in Christchurch.

At 10am went to the Antarctic Service at the Cathedral. It was done asking prayers and blessings for all those that are going to the Ice this season. I forget that New Zealand has a station down there too. The American Ambassador was there as well as the Mayor of the City. We didn’t stay long, but the service was nice, prayers were offered, the choir sang, the band played. It felt good to be reminded of who is in control of it because sometimes I forget and fall into the manly control mentality. During the service another tremor struck and I saw small drips of stone dust fall down upon the crowd. There is nothing like sitting in a hard wooden chair when the ground rumbles and you glance up at gothic arches imagining them coming down. Nothing happened, a mere hiccup but it was a reminder yet again that nothing we do is without divine planning from above.

Went to the Art Center market for lunch and got some Thai food at the street fair they were having. Saw Kiamichi but didn’t get it. I’ll save that for South Korea if I can.

Bought a Beanie at the Canterbury museum and then realized it was a child’s size. Still fits but I feel a little ridiculous wearing it. Oh well, that will teach me to buy spontaneously for a while. Went to the art gallery and walked among the modern art that I still don’t understand the point of. By two we were all a little tired and headed back to the hotel for some rest before hunting down a place for dinner. That’s half the fun of traveling right, eating. Getting a lot of that done down here and expanding my horizons.