As we approached the Canterbury Plains the weather improved steadily and by the time we reached Christchurch it was a glorious spring day. We managed to sneak into a hostel and have a free shower before picking up our now mended camera from the post office - yes we now have 2 cameras!!!

We then drove out onto the Banks Peninsula in search of a little French town called Akaroa - the French colonised here just after the English had claimed sovereignty over the whole of NZ, so just before the French landed an English boat was told to race to the port to hoist the Union Jack, which is still flying in the same spot today! Yet another English victory over the French. The flag now looks really tatty though, so we think that says something about what the locals think!

After a night overlooking Akaroa harbour we drove back down the peninsula on the stunning summit road - great views of lots of picturesque little bays with quaint little towns and beautiful blue sea. We then hit another summit road that crosses the hills above Christchurch with even better views, as well as the sea and bays on the other side you can see Christchurch, the Canterbury Plains and then out across the Southern Alps, we even saw Kaikoura a few hundred miles away further up the coast.

Since it was nice we had a stroll along Sumner beach and then unsuccessfully tried to find an ice cream - Sarah is desperate for a hokey pokey ice-cream (the call crunchie bars hokey pokey over here) We nipped around the hills to a big port called Lyttleton - from a distance it looked really nice and quaint, but on closer inspection it is the port that supports and services Christchurch, for a working port though it was nice.

Tomorrow we venture into the 'garden city' again to go and explore, apparently it is very much like the UK, it also has the same designer as Melbourne - I think we will like it, we will let you all know.

Love to all

Andrew and Sarah

xxxx