Mar. 5

At least we didn't have to start at dawn like the Christchurch group did! We boarded our bus at 9:30AM to continue our trip. We stopped to see bungee jumping, but on Sunday morning, no one was jumping. Can't say it appeal to me. Several of the others tried to talk Mike into it, but since no one offered to pay (it was $240 for one jump!) he passed.

We drove past sheep farms, dairy farms, and - deer farms. Apparently deer farming is becoming very big here. I must say that the South Island of New Zealand is lovely, I could easily spend more time there.

We started the morning with beautiful sunshine, if a bit cool. Throughout the day, the clouds built and the wind got stronger and stronger. By the time we rejoined the ship in Dunedin, it was howling. The bagpipes played to send us off, they pulled the gangway, and then the Captain announced the winds were too strong, so it would was too dangerous to attempt the channel out of the harbor then. He gave a two hour window during which we would still be able to make Christchurch on time. At 8PM, he announced that we would be spending the night in Dunedin, and skipping Christchurch. What a shame, but I was tired enough from the overland trip that I didn't really mind. I think Mike was pretty disappointed because he had been looking forward to a jet boat ride in Christchurch. On the other hand, the idea of experiencing rough weather was pretty exciting, too. We are wondering what the group that was supposed to rejoin the ship in Christchurch will do. We'll have to try and find one of them in Tauranga and find out how they fared.