Freetime Fun And Willowbank

 

Sadly, we have only a few days left. Our five-week journey seems to have gone by so quickly. We started our day with student’s choice - a morning out in Christchurch climbing at the rock climbing gym, and then tucked into some Hillyers pies for lunch.

We spent the afternoon and evening at Willowbank. Willowbank is a wildlife reserve where we had a chance to see up close both exotic animals that settlers brought and cause problems here in New Zealand (everything from deer to rabbits to wallaby, etc), as well as native animals which the reserve is trying to rehab, educate the public about, or help with repopulation efforts (kiwi, kaka, etc). In addition, we had a Ko Tane or Maori experience where the “gals” got to try Poi Balls and the “guys” got to try a haka. Ka Pai! Afterwards, we gathered in the restaurant to have a hangi which is food smoked in the ground. Very tasty!

Cheers, Dr. H and Meryl