New Zealand and Australia in 2 months

I took St. Kilda tour in the afternoon, which is a beautiful beachside community located  south of central Melbourne. The tour Highlights include St. Kilda Beach, historic trams, Luna Park, St. Kilda sea baths, and St. Kilda Pier. I spot five wild penguins after the sunset.  F1 2018 season has officially kicked off with Sebastian Vettel snagging the first win of the year in Melbourne. There was fighter jets flying stun performance on my way into St. Kilda, as well as after mass tram ride traffic on my way back.

I took a 2.5-HR tip-based walking tour via Australia’s culture capital Melbourne in a gorgeous sunny day and learned what makes this city great: the world class coffee, quirky hook turns, Ned Kelly, the architecture of the Gold Rush, etc. The tour ended next ti the Old Melbourne Gaol/prison. Then I had pork dumplings as lunch at the china town.  Melbourne is Australia’s cultural capital, with Victorian-era architecture, extensive shopping, museums, galleries, theatres, and large parks and gardens.

I started my day with Christchurch Cathedral (de-consecrated) ruins built between 1864 and 1904 in Cathedral Square and its replacement "Cardboard Cathedral". Then I took the purple bus to Port Hills to hike up and see the city views as well as the harbor views.    The hike in the Port hills includes two of Christchurch's most iconic historical sites: The Sign of the Kiwi and the Sign of the Takahe. Named after two of the island's native flightless birds, these two New Zealand Category One Heritage Sites are built after the English Manor style. And I also walked a loop to Sugarloaf Reserve. I also saw lot of sheep on the walkways, some of which traverse working farms.  I was tempted to walk to the Summit Road, which separates Christchurch from Lyttelton Harbour, but I ran out of time ti get back to town to catch my flight to Melbourne. Whoever coming to Christchurch next, do remember save enough time to see views over the Pegasus Bay, Lyttelton Harbour and Banks Penin...

I decided to walk along the winy Avon River to the harbor before checking in the Christchurch visitor information, so I ended up walked 10 km to a water treatment facility. Christchurch is known as the Garden City, a well-deserved name, and I saw a big number of trees that grow like a forest throughout the suburbs during my walk. I visited HAGLEY PARK, BOTANIC GARDENS,  Christchurch Art Gallery, and  CANTERBURY MESEUM in the afternoon. A lot of buildings are still under repair after being damaged by earthquakes in 2011. 

I picked up a map from an information centre yesterday to take on the Dunedin Street Art Trail. Artists from all over the world have decorated around 28 walls with colourful creations. Then I walked uphill near the Manor Backpackers hostel to get the harbor views before busing 6.5 hrs to Christchurch in the afternoon. I planned to walk 39 mins to intercity bus station but a local kindly offered me a ride to the station so I would not miss the hidden station and my bus. Now I am relaxed in my wifi bus and enjoying my scenic coastal ride.

It rained pretty bad today, so I visited  Dunedin Public Art Gallery right in the centre of the city at The Octagon, the fun& free Toitu Otago Settlers Museum nearby Dunedin Railway Station, then back tracked to the Otago Museum (watched a 30-min film on Dunedin) and the Botanic Gardens to finish the rest of the sections missed yesterday, with a Chinese buffet lunch break. To my surprise, the rest 80% of the Botanic gardens have a lot of see, including the birds in the Aviary.  The back of the Botanic gardens happened to connect with the Signal  Hill road  leading to the Signal Hill walk which summit has panoramic views of Dunedin. I was lucky to hitchhike to the summit but too foggy to see anything so I took one statue photo in memory of my visit then let the kind host drop me back to the supermarket near the gate of the Botanic Gardens. Quite a full raining day!