Beautiful Christchurch and Willowbank

Our adventure began in Christchurch, New Zealand on Monday, January 11… when Consultants began arriving following one of the longest plane rides ever. Within a few minutes of seeing the gorgeous countryside and feeling the balmy air, I think everyone agreed that the plane trip was worth it!

After we got everyone checked in to one of Christchurch’s finest accommodations, the Millennium Hotel, we were free to explore the city independently, and explore we did! Christchurch has a strong English influence, and it’s seen in the lush botanical gardens and the stately stone cathedrals that seem to dot every street. It was an ideal afternoon to stroll in the fresh air and catch the sights, smells, and sense of this quaint city.

In the afternoon, David elected to go to the Antarctic adventure exhibit, leaving me and Monica some girl time. We discovered a great restaurant, Blue Fish Sushi, where dishes moved by on a conveyor belt for your selection. The atmosphere was quirky and the food was delicious.

Toward the evening, we headed out as a group to our welcome activity—dinner and entertainment at the Willowbank Preserve, an extraordinary nature park where we saw kiwi birds (no photos of these—their habitat is dark and no photography is allowed), hilarious-snouted wild boar, eels, and everything in between.

We were treated to a Maori show, where David was elected “chief” and we watched a great native performance. Some of the Consultants were invited onstage to learn the art of poi ball spinning (I gave it a go) and several of the guys tried doing the Haka. This is where I laughed so hard I thought I’d cry—Jody Wihongi is half Maori and grew up doing the Haka. His moves were confident and precise. David has a martial arts background, so he warmed up to the moves pretty quickly. But our VP of Information Technology, Brian Holman, was, shall we say, NEW to the whole idea. Bless his heart, he gave it his all—he was a great sport and provided the best laughter of the evening. Check out Brian, David, and Jody doing the Haka in this video.










More to come!