New Zealand, part 1 (Conference Days)

A few months ago, a friend of mine invited me to an academic conference in New Zealand. Since I had never been to Middle Earth, I decided to extend my stay for about one week so I could see some of the sights on the South Island. This is the first of a few posts showing pictures from the trip.

To begin with, Changi Airport in Singapore is amazing.

On my way to my flight, I was surprised by all the Spongebob Christmas activities at the airport. The airport's decor even drew people who were not flying anywhere.

Anyways, I arrived in Christchurch, NZ on Sunday around noon. I didn't want to fall asleep right away and ruin my adjustment to the time zone there, so I walked around the city for a while.

Along my walk, I was surprised by how similar the town was to the places I grew up in the Western USA. The city even had a shopping center equipped with both a K-Mart and a McDonald's! It's like Rexburg!

Other things were different. Such as the ducks. They had white and black heads.

The center of town also had a nice botanical garden. Unfortunately the city had some major earthquakes in 2011, which damaged many of the buildings. Including the conservatory. I'll write more about the earthquake later.

The rose gardens were nice.

I also took one of my favorite flower pictures in quite a while. The bees were positioned almost perfectly for the shot.

I took a few other pictures for my computer wallpapers.

Anyways, shortly after walking around the gardens, I walked back to the hotel. The next few days were spent in the conference.

I tried to look professorial; after this picture to send to my sister, I had to laugh at myself. Selfies are ridiculous.