Lavender Towers

Altho we do not have much of a city to visit, Christchurch is becoming a very interesting place.
The City Mall looks amazing with all the container shops, all painted up very colourful, flower baskets
everywhere, and our wonderful department store, Ballantynes, is up and running.
The Christchurch Museum is open and you will find some very interesting exhibits in there.
Next door there are the Botanical Gardens and at the moment the rose garden is looking so
beautiful.
There are many places to visit outside of the CBD, i.e. The Antarctic Centre, very close to the airport.
Willowbank Wildlife Park where you can see the little Kiwi Bird in its natural surroundings and also
see a Maori Dance and Song event.
Plus we have many Vineyards, Restaurants and surburban shopping – so much to see and do.
Come take a look, the one thing that is not missing is the very friendly people.

This is so devastating for our city, so much heartache and damage. But Christchurch will cleanup and rebuild.
We have such a lovely city, with all of Hagley Park and the Avon River.
We are in the Northwest side of the city, our area and lots of others on this side, are not damaged. Our house
is not damaged, we have power and water. It is hard to believe that all this is going on in our city from where we are.
So if you are wanting accommodation either coming into the South Island or leaving, we are only 5 minutes from
the airport. Please give us a call.

Well, summer has started earlier than usual this year,
the roses in the garden are just devine, so much colour.
The aftershocks in Christchurch have died down and things
are starting to get back to normal.

Wow, nearly all the autumn leaves are down now, and when flying back home from Australia this week noticed how the mountains are looking just gorgeous with their first coating of snow for the season.
No doubt the ski fields will be open shortly and hopefully we will have a really good season like last winter.

We have had a great couple of hot months here in Christchurch, just wonderful for our Floral Festival and the Elleslie Flower Show.
Now daylight saving will end this weekend, and we are into our autumn months. Just great for travelling, especially down south, around Queenstown, Arrowtown way, the colours on the trees are quite a picture.

19th February – 14th March 2010
Always a very popular time to be in Christchurch.
There are many garden tours in and around the city, a beautiful floral carpet is laid in the Christchurch Cathedral and various other exhibits and things to see. Go to festivalofflowers.co.nz to check out all the details.

It is great having guests over the xmas period and especially this year as Santa brought us a Samoyed Puppy, he is just four months old and a little darling, so cuddly and lapping up all the attention he is getting from his visitors. It has been really quiet since Meisha died, four months ago, and her mum, Sasha, has been missing her terribly, so having this little guy has really cheered her up.

Summer is coming and Christchurch is getting ready for a fun week during 7/14th November. The highlight of the week is always the New ZealandTrotting Cup held on Tuesday, 10th November. Its a day of fabulous fashion, beautiful hats and spectacular horse racing. Many of us start the day at a Restaurant with breakfast and champagne, followed by a full day of fun.The Royal New Zealand Show, held at the Canterbury Agricultural Park is a must-see, held over three days from Wednesday,`11th, until Friday 13th. There is also the Lindauer Race Day on the Friday and the Christchurch Casino New Zealand Cup, gallops, on Saturday.

A great three day weekend for many Cantabrians. With many visitors to our city over that week.

The temperatures here in Christchurch are 20/24 degrees some days. Warm for this time of year, there were children in swimming down at Sumner beach on Sunday, we are all hoping for a great sunny summer season.

Our garden is looking very pretty with the camelias, the magnolia and the cherry blossom all in full bloom. Our nearest park has a walkway with cherry blossom trees all the way along. Great place to take a photo of Sasha.