It’s Day 3 of my New Zealand trip, and I am excited about what our group is going to do today.  We board the bus and depart from Rotorua to see a working sheep demonstration at the AGRODOME.  We learned that there is nineteen different breeds of sheep, saw a sheep-shearing demonstration, watched sheep being auctioned off and had the opportunity to hand milk a cow and watch the sheep dogs work the sheep.  The Shepherd-- who never talks to his sheepdogs, only communicates to the dogs by whistle commands.  It is amazing how fast the dogs can wrangle the sheep and herd them into the paddocks.  It was very entertaining and quite fun to watch.  Did you know that a good Shearer could shear up to 300 sheep in one day----that is less than 3 minutes per sheep!!!   The Shearer works very fast and doesn’t make but 2 or 3 different shaves…they start on the sheep’s belly and around the head, ears and then down the legs and finish with the top side of the sheep.  The dirty part of the wool—which is on the underside of the sheep, is used to make products that don’t require the best wools.  The fine top quality wool is used to make clothes and other top grade products.  When the Shearer has finished shearing, he has enough Lanolin oil from the wool that he could actually give someone a massage!!!!   Merino wool is the most expensive and the most popular type of wool.  After 2 hours and a little shopping at the AGRODOME (I bought the cutest little wool lambs and Kiwi beanie babies for my grandchildren), we stopped at the Heritage Hotel—a 4 star hotel in Rotarua for a hotel inspection.   After our tour, we had lunch, did some shopping, then we headed to the airport for our flight to Christchurch, which is located on the South Island. 

We arrived in Christchurch about 3:30pm (only about an hour flight), boarded a new bus with a new driver for our stay on the South Island, and toured Christchurch before going to our hotel.  Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island and is referred to as the “Garden City” due to its profusion of elegant English gardens and beautiful architecture.  Christchurch was founded in 1850 as a model Church of England settlement and has maintained its English flavor---in fact it is the most English city outside of England.  The city spreads across the Canterbury Plains and has a dramatic backdrop of the Southern Alps; it is a beautiful city that offers preserved Gothic architecture and is complemented by tree-lined avenues, colorful gardens and the meandering Avon River.  This English city is definitely a people city and it has all the authentic English pubs and great museums; everyone was out enjoying the boat rides down the canals, walking around the city and just enjoying the beautiful fall weather.  The South Island has cooler temperatures than on the North Island, so you really experience the four seasons---it was 55degrees when we arrived, after leaving 70degree weather in Rotorua.  I loved this city and would have enjoyed spending more time here, there is so much energy ---so clean and bright---and one of the things that I loved, was the colorful clay tile roof on the homes.  After our tour we arrived at our hotel—the Crowne Plaza Christchurch, which is located across from Victoria Square and beside the Avon River.  It is adjacent to the Christchurch Convention Hall, the Christchurch Casino and is just minutes from the central business district, so it was a perfect location and only about 5 minutes from great pubs, restaurants, museums and shopping!  We had cocktails and an awesome dinner at The Yamagen –a Japanese restaurant at our hotel, and that ended another full day in New Zealand.  Tune in for Day 4 and more about my great trip to New Zealand!  Don’t forget to checkout my pictures!