Christchurch and Akaroa

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A lazy morning in Tekapo before catching my bus to Christchurch. A quick evening stroll and a bite to eat and it was time for bed. Tomorrow I do some exploring.

Unfortunately, the sky is overcast and there's a slight drizzle as I set out through Hagley Park. Hagley Park is massive with large, open fields for cricket, rugby, football, etc, tree-lined paths around the edges, and small clumps of trees scattered throughout. The track I followed led me to the botanical gardens. The gardens are quite extensive and I spent almost the whole morning there. Lovely. Eventually I made my way back to the central square and Christchurch Cathedral. It's a lovely stone structure with some beautiful stained glass windows. Next on the agenda...a rental car for tomorrow's trip to Akaroa. Time to drive on the other side of the road. It really wasn't all that bad. The thing that caused me the most grief was every time I went to signal a turn, I flipped the wipers on. Oh well.

It's about a ninety minute drive south to the village of Akaroa. It sits on the Banks Peninsula, which is a tall, rocky chunk of land jutting out into the Pacific. That contrasted sharply with the flat, flat land to the interior which was only broken in the far distance by trees. I drove up into the hills and took a side tourist road for some views of the bays below. Eventually, I found myself in Akaroa and Black Cat Cruises where I put on a wetsuit and boarded a boat. Ten of us plus two crew set off in a drizzle in search of Hector dolphins. At 1.2-1.4 metres, they're the smallest dolphins in the world (and there are only about 7000 left in the world). We found the dolphins (or they found us). A ladder was lowered over the side of the boat, and we got in the water. We sang through our snorkels and made clicking noises to attract them and it worked. Individually and in pairs they swam around us and through us. Fantastic. Definitely a good day.

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Photos

Christchurch
Damage from quakes

Christchurch
Damage from quakes