New Zealand Trip Day 3 - Banks Peninsula

There is a road tunnel south east from Christchurch to the nearby port of Lyttleton. Going deep under a mountain in an earthquake zone felt rather intrepid. But nothing fell on us. Lyttleton also has a lot of earthquake scars and we didn't linger. Destination on Day 3 was the village of Akaroa on the picturesque Banks Peninsula. En route we had our first good look at the absurdly beautiful New Zealand countryside.

The Banks Peninsula, being so close to ChCh (this how we seasoned travelers refer to Christchurch), has been inhabited for a long time. Even before Europeans arrived Maori settlers had modified the native vegetation a lot. Now it is a mosaic of farms, gardens and villages. So, so pretty in a gentle, cultivated way.

This is Governor's Bay. The air was perfumed with yellow gorse in flower. Now considered a curse, it was introduced by homesick early British settlers, along with their birds and animals such as cats, rabbits, stoats and weasels. The legacy of all those is still being battled by NZ naturalists. But what feral does the average New Zealander hate the most? Yep, possums. They are blamed for everything, including eating native birds. What the?

Wildflowers everywhere. The kind of display one would be happy to have as a perennial border in Australia, just rampant by the roadsides.

We stopped at Ohenetahi Gardens, home of eminent architect Sir Miles Warren. The gardener said temperatures can go from minus 12 to plus 40 in the course of the year. But it obviously rains buckets most of the time and the conditions today were perfect. This is the "Red Garden" viewed from the folly tower.

 This is the formal section, in front of the lovely old (1863) stone house.

Better roses than the Bot Gardens. There was a rainforest section, pleached hornbeam hedging, a special peony garden and interesting sculptures everywhere. Hmm. Don't think Glenn-Hume Estate will rise to this level any time soon.

This part of the S Island is just so luridly green. There are glossy cattle and roly poly sheep everywhere you look.

The historic little port of Akaroa sits at the water's edge in a landscape defined by volcanic action. The volcanic rim can be seen in this photo, with steep hillsides and rich soil scattered with granite.

It is lambing season. Turn off the car engine and the bleating pours in from all sides.

The way we prefer to travel is to decide on the run where we will stay that night. You stay flexible and fellow travelers and hosts usually have great ideas about good things to see and do. This is Halfmoon Cottage at Barry's Bay near Akaroa. It is part of a syndicate of affiliated accommodation places called BBH (Budget Backpacker Hostels). Mostly they were really good. Usually shared bathrooms but lovely bedrooms and communal kitchens for a friendly cook-up with other guests.

This was our bedroom, overlooking the bay, with a lovely verandah just outside.

Can't get over the size of the hollyhocks everywhere and the size of the bumblebees!

This is Halfmoon's country kitchen. Pick your own herbs, duck eggs in the bowl.

Owner Gill advised riding the cottage's bicycles over to Onawe peninsula to explore the old Maori Pa (settlement site). It had been the site of a ghastly battle in the 1840's, not between white and Maori but between two warring Maori tribes. Things got more bloody than they had ever been when the British armed the tribes with muskets. The Maori way was to fight, then settle and then intermarry. Maori culture is much more unified these days.

Even this narrow isthmus could not be defended. It all ended very tragically.

Wild pea flowers.

Even though this is a rather isolated and rarely visited site, someone is taking care of it. The wide grassy walking path had been mown and was soft and inviting. Inviting of a good dizzying roll downhill.

Over to the west some dramatic late afternoon clouds rolled over the old crater rim.

We took the hint and got on our bikes and headed back to Halfmoon Cottage for some cotelettes dágneau from the boulangerie at Akaroa, and a good talk with the Swiss wwoofers. Why the French? Well, it turns out Akaroa was founded by a boatload of French settlers in 1840 and still retains its French connection. More of that a demain. Bon nuit!