A Must For Your Itinerary - Experience All of Christchurch In Just One Day Tour: Fun, beautiful, fantastic – this tour was all of these. We felt like we were really seeing New Zealand, not just places the tourists go. Geoff, a native, is offering the tour for the first time, and we were among the first to experience it. He and his wife Libby operate Real New Zealand Tours. This tour started with a drive around Christchurch to see the highlights, including a walk through the beautiful Botanic Gardens, which were quite colorful when we were there in late September. Then, Geoff headed just outside of town. We stopped to pick up prepared box lunches – individual charcuterie boards that looked like works of art thanks to their creative arrangement. That’s where we met Donnie, a delightful American miniature horse, who liked carrots as much as we liked him. Leaving Donnie, Geoff took us down a long and winding gravel road among rolling green hills dotted with sheep that ended at Glenafric Farm, a sheep and cattle farm overlooking the water near Waipara in North Canterbury. We were greeted by two wandering sheep before meeting Judith and her son James and grandson William, who live there. We enjoyed our lunch with them on Judith’s terrace which had a spectacular view of the farm and the bay. Then we visited the sheep. We watched their tails wag as we fed them from a bottle. Great fun. William and his dad invited us to join them as dad sheared a sheep; and they showed us the different types of wool from their sheep and how they process it for sale. And, for anyone into collecting, James has a collection of vintage tractors that might be of interest. Leaving the farm, we got a second chance to enjoy the beautiful rolling hills along the gravel road back to the main highway. But that wasn’t the end of the excursion. On the way back to Christchurch, Geoff took us to “georges road,” a picturesque winery and vineyard, for a tasting. We sampled whites, reds and a rose and laughed at one of the winery’s logos – a furry dog balancing a wine glass on his nose with the caption “# balanceiseverything.” We had to purchase a t-shirt adorned with the balancing act before leaving to return to our Christchurch hotel. Thanks, Geoff, for a fantastic time, a lot of fun, and a great memory to take home.