Banks Peninsula

Tuesday 9th February

We wanted to get out of Chrstchurch yesterday. The weather was overcast and cool, the city deserted because it was Waitangi Weekend (a bank holiday), so we took the highway south to the volcanic Banks Peninsula. Captain Cook thought it was an island when he first surveyed New Zealand, only later was it discovered to be connected with the coastal Cantebury Plain.

The main resort is Akaroa, a very pretty town on the huge Akaroa harbour. A French sea captain took a fancy to the area, and returned to France to recruit some settlers. But the time they sailed back to Akaroa the Treaty of Waitangi. Had been signed and the country was  British dominion, which must have been a bit annoying!

The Peninsula is very mountainous, with small settlements around its periphery. The sparsely wooded green mountains and twisting roads are like the Peak District, and there is a steady stream of traffic heading to or from Akaroa. The town has French place names reflecting its origins, but it doesn't look French. It is more like Salcombe or another pretty south Devon resort, with a similar mix of cafes and expensive tat shops. Tat is anything I'm not interested in, such as souvenirs, overpriced clothes, art, and fragrances. It would be a struggle to find shops I am interested in to be honest.

But the buildings and location are very quaint and well looked after, so it was worth the visit. The cruise ship Noordam was in the harbour, and orange boats ferried elderly tourists back and forth  to Akaroa.

I found a jet boat trip I was prepared to invest my hard earned cash on. The jaunt was $75, which was $50 cheaper than anywhere else I had seen. Julie sensibly didn't fancy bouncing over waves, so I joined nine other tourists and sped around the harbour at fifty miles an hour, holding on very tightly. Jeez it was good fun, genuinely thrilling. The driver put in some very tight turns at the end, so I was grateful for my lap belt.

On the drive back to Christchurch we stopped at Birdlings Flat, which is a long gravel bank like Chesil Beach flanked by cliffs like the red ones at Westbay. An angler caught a Seven Gill Shark about sixty centimetres long. It was a damned ugly fish, and he chucked back in again.

For our last dinner in New Zealand we dined at Valentines, which I can highly recommend if you are passing! We had seafood chowder, followed by lamb shank washed down with local Pinot Noir. Damn it was good, so good I had to have some Gaviscon.

Banks Peninsula is like Derbyshire

I'm leaving on a jet boat

Akaroa lighthouse

Birdlings Flat