I went to Christchurch the day before leaving New Zealand to Japan because my flight was an early-morning flight. Dawn gave me a ride to Christchurch. She chose a different route from the one which we had driven before, and took the time to show me around Banks Peninsula.
The last day of my stay, we took a few pictures for souvenirs against Dawn's house.
We drove through large hill for about an hour. The hill were covered with grassed and there were a few bushes dotted around. And there were some high and steep rock on the top of the hill. In Japan, all mountains are covered with trees. There are no mountains like New Zealanders call the hills, which are not covered with trees and there are only some bushes.
We saw a road-bike rider squatting by the road. It looked like he was fixing a punctured tire. Dawn said "Are you OK?" and he said "I'm fine. Thanks!" I thought that both of them were used to such a situation.
By the way, I saw lots of road-bike riders on the top of the hill, where we went up by car for an hour. I couldn't believe the situation, they had a lot of physical strength! The next thing I knew, there were some people climbing the steep rocks. ...And there was an elderly couple starting to go trampping with big knapsacks. Where were you going! There were no trail for hiking! ...The high point of my surprise was two boys who I guessed were elementary school students. They were racing each other on their standard bicycles on the top of the hill!! During my stay, I really thought that New Zealanders love to do aggressively exercise. And I finally came to the conclusion that most New Zealanders have perfect health!
New Zealand/2004
On my way back to Japan
