i survived the mighty avon river in christchurch the other day, rafting my way through a great distance. that is, of course, if you define ‘raft’ as a small inflatable vessel you can purchase for less than eight dollars, ‘mighty river’ as a stream not more than twenty feet across and one or two feet deep, and ‘survived’ as finishing off piles of cheap beer and snacks in the process…

a rather large group of us decided rubber rafts and a riot of laughter were the best way to stroll through a city of over 300,000 people. we floated through the botanical gardens, the bar district, and a number of fancier locales. fortunately for us, it was in the eyes of amusement we reflected - bemused smiles and laughter followed our passage.

now, time to leave the city (far too expensive here) and move south toward the cities of dunedin, queenstown, and wanaka as well as the southern alps of new zealand for some hiking.