X-mas in Christchurch

Everybody asked me on Whatsapp what my Christmas was like. Well, first of all it was just lovely.

Christmas Eve isn't that important than in Switzerland. But however, after I went to a wildlifepark with Melinda and ger kids Derek and Lilyana and after eating fish n' chips we went to church.
There I experienced my first earthquake. Although all other people didn't even look up, I was pretty scared. 

After the church service where we already sang a lot we went to Latimer square to attend the 'carols by candlelight', organized by the YMCA. I guess, I had one of these moments when you just have goosebumps. It was so moving seeing hundreds of people singing carols, ad especially my favourite one 'Hark the Herald angel sing'.

Christmas day started with delicious waffles and continued with playing games, splashing around in the pool, having a nice barbecue and eatint too much of everything. 

As you can see, I had lovely Christmas days although I didn't have the same Christmas feeling as I used to have at home. It might be the fact that I was wearing my shorts and jandals or it might be that I just missed my Mum's cookies. ( But I got a whole bucket of yummy chocolate chip cookies from Frances;))

Now I'm staying with an elderly couple outside from christchurch. Yesterday we had a lovely day at Akaroa, another spot that is characterized by peace and beauty. 

As we had a lazy day yesterday, Alan (69) amd I set off early for a bike ride. We went all along a track called Railtrail up to Kaipuna where we observed some rare New Zealand birds. It was wonderful although the wind wasn't that nice to us. All in all wr cycled 63 kilometers and I can't imagine at the moment ever getting out of this comfy armchair.