Days 1-2: Christchurch

October 14, 2026 

Our flight landed in Christchurch around 10:30 am. I hoped for a view on the flight but all we saw were clouds. After retrieving our luggage, we caught an Uber to downtown and checked into the townhouse we reserved. 

Despite paying for an early check-in, the townhouse wasn't ready when we arrived (the cleaners didn't get the message we had an early check in). They let us drop our bags, then we walked around the downtown 

and shared a nice lunch of salmon pie and a dessert

before heading back to the townhouse for a hot nice nap.

We were able to coordinate the start of our trip with the end of the trip for one of the girls and her spouse. They met us for dinner, then stayed at the townhouse with us.

October 15: 

This morning we were picked up at the townhouse by a private driver for a guided Waipara Valley wine tour.

Our first stop was at Graystone Winery. By the end of the day, we agreed that this was our overall favorite.

From there, we went to Georges Road.

The scenery was beautiful 

And the lunch was delicious. I hoped to get to pet the resident dog, Pepper, but unfortunately it was Pepper's grooming day.

Our third stop was at The Bone Line.

The weather was turning bad, so we took a table inside. All the tanks helped Steve feel like we were at a brewery.

Our last stop was at Black Estate.

It started hailing while we were tasting these delicious wines.

We arrived back in Christchurch around 5 pm and went to Riverside Market for dinner.

It was cold and raining, so we Ubered back to the townhouse, and had an early night, since we were still a bit jet lagged and "the kids" had to be up early for their 6 am flight in the morning.