Our penultimate day in NZ was another lovely sunny day. We drove north from Timaru through agricultural land until we were about 50 kms short of Christchurch. We then turned east on to the Banks Peninsula. This proved to be another of Liz’s excellent ‘diversions’ as the peninsula is a mini fiordland with hills dropping down into the sea. We first drove to the sea at the beginning of the Kaitorete Spit. This has a gravel beach to the Pacific. There was a shelf just off the beach where the water depth dropped to about 7 metres. Consequently it was extremely dangerous to go into the water because if you went over the shelf you would never get back on shore due to the wave action. We watched a local man fishing off the beach who hauled in a dog fish from his first cast - which looked like a small shark! We then drove into the peninsula over a pass to the main town, called Akaroa, where there are still quite a few French street names – this is where the first French settlers landed. The town was very pretty with an esplanade and a wharf; it does help when the sky is a brilliant blue and the sea colour almost the same. We continued on to Christchurch with a nail biting drive on a narrow gravel road snaking up and over the hills. Our first view of Christchurch was from the top of the Dryden Pass, which was again an impressive scene.
Christchurch seems to be a vibrant city and we are staying tonight at the Holiday Inn in the city centre.
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