Almost... in New Zealand

These three post cards are pictures of the trams (streetcars)

that we almost were able to ride. We were on our long-ago-planned retirement trip to New Zealand and Cook Islands when the Corona Virus took over the world's plans. We were in Picton, New Zealand (north end of the South Island) when we decided that we needed to return home (about 3 weeks early) to take care of ourselves and not to put others in harm's way if we did carry the virus in a foreign country. The best travel that we could arrange was to fly from Christchurch

to Auckland; then Auckland to San Francisco; then San Francisco to Vancouver; then, after an overnight in Vancouver to fly to Edmonton - home! All of this was to begin at 10:00 AM on Friday, March 27th. That was the earliest set of flights that we could book on the Sunday we decided to leave New Zealand.

We were scheduled to be in Christchurch anyway to take the "TranzAlpine" Train on the 24th. So we followed our planned schedule and got to Christchurch on the 23rd of March. That day, they cancelled the "TrazAlpine"; we had reservations for the next day. Oh, well. At least they had trams still running... they shut down the trams that night, too. So we stayed in Christchurch, socially isolating ourselves for four days until we could get onto the first plane to start our journey home.
These trams were all abandoned, rescued and restored to fully operational condition. Today, they serve the tourist trade by taking people around downtown Christchurch. The first picture shows the Anglican Cathedral with a sign saying that they are offering a "Jazz Service this Sunday". The steeple is missing today after toppling in an earthquake that struck on February 22, 2011. Here ia a photo I took:

They are still raising funds to restore the cathedral and to make it earthquake resistant. The oldest tram found and restored was built in 1903 - that is a good shot of it in the middle picture, above. The third post card shows a cute street through which the trams drive. It has small shops and restaurants on either side of the tracks. Toward the right side of the picture is a building with more shops and restaurants through which the trams drive. We actually stayed on the left side (from this point of view) of the building in an apartment while waiting to depart New Zealand.

The post cards were published by Kiwi Vista Company out of Auckland. They wholesale post cards, magnets, souvenirs, CDs and DVDs to retailers across New Zealand.