Wednesday, Jan. 13

We planned a day trip for today. We decided to head toward Lyttelton. On the way we stopped at the gondola. We decided it was nice enough to go up. There was a haze over Christchurch. The view was still good though. The view of Lyttelton Bay was spectacular. We did a little walking on some of the paths. We also did a time tunnel that explained how the area was formed and inhabitted. it was quite the abridged version but nice info all the same.

After the gondola we went through a tunnel to Lyttelton. Not as long as the tunnels in Switzerland but an easy way to the coast. Lyttelton is the habour for Christchurch. It is the biggest harbour on the South Island. There was a cruise ship in today. Lyttelton is a quaint town built on the volcano hillsides. We had lunch there.

Off again to the Godley Head area. A lot of the land in this area is in a reserve. The road there was narrow and windy. You had to move as far as you can to the left to let other cars go by. Thank goodness there was not too much traffic. There were also sheep on the road to dodge. The drop offs beside the road are steep with no guard rails. It was a little scary for me when I was on the drop off side. We went for a walk in this area. We saw old building used during WWII to protect the harbour. The buildings were accessible with signs in them telling you what they were used for. As we had an engagement that evening we decided to head back to Christchurch.

This time we took the Summit Road. Again it was windy and twisty. However, it was wider, two lanes. There were many pictureque views. We made it back with a half hour to spare before going out.

We went to a wildlife preserve that has a Moire Ko Tane Show. It was a lovely evening. We met a lovely young women, Emma, from Aust. We invied her to sit with us for the supper. We have some picture on our picasa site of the last two days accivities.