more nz

Note: there's a post from Mianh below this one that you might have missed, as it showed up after I had posted this one. So scroll down, have a read and a comment, and then scroll back on up.
Here are Sam and I setting off for a paddle boat ride from the Antigua Boat Sheds in Christchurch. You could also go on punt rides, but those seem like they're just meant for couples, and the paddle boat was fun. There were lots of ducklings in the river, and ducks that kept on swimming straight for our boat. Ducks playing chicken-wierd.


Here's Christchurch Cathedral, and a big fern sculpture. The Kiwis love their ferns.
This is the hull of the Edwin Fox, the ninth oldest ship in the world. It was built in the 1850's in India and carried troops and supplies to the Crimean War, convicts to Australia, and immigrants to New Zealand. In the 20th century it became storage for a meat packing plant, and then to hold coal for another factory. This ship has seen a lot.
Here are some of the sheep that held us up on the "highway". (On this day of driving, the highway was so twisty and turny that we rarely got above 80 km/h, our usual speed was more like 60-it reminded me a bit of the road up to Ron and Franceen's.) Like the ignorant urban girl I am, I just drove really slowly behind the sheep, jumping every time I heard one baa cause it sounded like a lamb was right under the wheels. Eventually some locals drove up behind me, and as there was no oncoming traffic by that point, they got in the other lane and herded the sheep over onto the shoulder with their masterful driving/shepherding skills. I meekly waited until the locals had passed me then got in line behind them to get through the herd at a much quicker pace.

There were lots of signs around with phone numbers to call to report wandering stock, and to tell you to please report it to the nearest farm if you ran over someone's livestock. And I learned that if you come upon a cow in the middle of the road and can't stop in time, aim for its bum rather than its head, cause its likely to run away in the direction its already pointed in.
And to end, a totally unrelated question: can anyone recommend a good version of Wild Mountain Thyme for me to buy from ITunes? Mianh and I were trying to sing it in the car but we don't know very many of the words. And its a song that deserves to be memorized.