We only left the apartment around 12:00 as we caught up on sleep from being awake late last night.
By the time we left, the weather had improved and we got into the car with some scorching sun!
We drove to Banks Peninsula which is around 1.5 hours away from Christchurch, up in the mountains. Google Maps took us to the top of a mountain, but we got exquisite views from there!
We drove from here down to Akaroa. Akaroa is a small french inspired town due to its 10th century French colonisation. Most of the shops and roads have French names and it felt just like being in France!
We needed some food, so found a cafe and got a coffee and cake. The coffee was pretty disappointing, but it was what we needed.
We left here and went to a shop where we got some ham and cheese and then went to a French bakery and got a baguette.
We sat on a park bench overlooking the harbour eating baguette with ham and cheese.
We walked around for a brief moment and then strolled back to the car.
We drove all the way back to Christchurch and got back to the apartment, briefly, and then got back outside and walked the 20 minutes to the city centre.
In the centre, we walked down a nice street which had a few shops on it, called New Regent Street.
We had the tram go past us, also. It was a nice old style tram!
Walking on from here, we went to the Botanic Gardens and saw a lot of big and unique trees.
We left the botanic garden and on the way back home, we came to one of the most affected areas from the 2011 earthquake.
There are few buildings here now, but there still stands the Christ Church Cathedral, which is one of New Zealand’s top historic buildings. Unfortunely, the earthquake tore large holes into this cathedral and so it is cordened off, though it is part of a restoration project, which is estimated to take 7-10 years.
We got back home via the supermarket and fish and chips shop (to get more chips) and we had some leftover chinese for dinner.
We sat and watched some TV before hitting the hay, with a long drive planned for tomorrow.
Poroporoaki!
– Mr & Mrs Hale
Mr & Mrs Hale 