A Hike In The Hills

Dr. Meurk explains a little about our surroundings atop the Northern end of the Port Hills

Hiking down a trail in the Port Hills toward Lyttleton Harbor.

Ice Cream is Tip Top in New Zealand!

The trick of day one is just to stay awake until dinner time so that there is a better chance of setting our clocks to this time zone.  After 20+ hours of travel, this is easier said than done, but everyone did remarkably well.  We went on a short hike in the Port Hills with views over Christchurch and Lyttleton Harbor.  It was such a clear day we could see up the east coast to the Kaikoura mountains which is a three and a half hour drive by car.  We marveled at the fact we are on the "west" side of the Pacific Ocean.  We were also lucky enough today to have Landscape Ecologist, Colin Meurk, with us who gave us a lovely overview of the Canterbury Plains were we will be based for the next five weeks.  We got to start comparing some of the non-native and native plants, and, of course, we had to stop for a little ice cream before heading back to Lincoln for some grocery store supplies and Lincoln Uni for dinner.

Sleep well everyone! - Mark and Meryl