We felt like we shouldn't keep Pat and Alan waiting for their breakfast as long as the past couple of days, so we were out the house and on the way to Sumner at a much more reasonable time. Sumner had been quite a well off area, because of the views from some of the houses on the cliffs, but then the earthquake had caused the cliffs to fall down so that they were right on the edge, or even worse, fallen down with them. There were more shipping containers, this time being used to prop up the cliffs, and I liked the fact some of them had covers with various artwork on.

After a morning tea stop at one of the beachside cafes, we went to an old Tannery, which has been turned into lots of various boutique shops. We spent a while in the book shop (we seem to be giving off the impression of being absolute book worms, as we spend most of our time at their house with our noses buried into cook books and historic photograph books of Christchurch, and spending a long time in the library).

Our original plan for the day had been to go up on the gondola, but since when we first left the house it was quite foggy, decided to wait until the north westerly wind had blown it away, which had near enough happened by the time we left the shops. It got very hot in the gondola cabins, with little air coming though the small windows, and with the sun beating through the see through cases. There was a ride, similar to the Oxford Story, which was included in the price of the gondola ticket about the history of Christchurch, which went through how the land developed from volcanic lava, and then the native birds, then the Maoris and then the colonisation from England in the four ships, but it was all pretty much things Alan had told us about. We then went upstairs to the lookout deck, and spotted a kite surfer. I hadn't realised there was as beautiful scenery on the other side of the mountain to the one which we came up on, but it made the gondola trip well worth the visit.

When we had come back down on the gondola, we went over to have a look at our photos they had taken of us inside the cabin. It was a bit of a phony anyway as they had cut out the photo of us which was taken at the station, and pasted it onto a backdrop as if we were on our way up, but the lady said it was $35 for the pack of 2 photographs, and a code so that you could get them online, or $25 for just the one. Pat said that that was a rip-off and the woman got all defensive and said "maybe it's not in your budget, but most people buy them, 50- 60%", to which Pat replied "actually it is within my budget, I just don't think it's worth it" which it isn't given you can get a photo developed for about 50 cents, and you could just get a photo of you in there with your own camera! I think Pat was very offended, and so Alice composed a complaint email on her tablet.

Next stop was Dean's cottage and bush- the oldest building in Christchurch, which was used by 2 men who had come from Scotland to start a farm. Unfortunately one died in a shipwreck, and the other became ill only a short while after his son was born, and then died so that his wife had to maintain the farm. The bush is a closed off area which contains only native plants, and so is like what would have been there before settlers came and introduced other species.

Pat had been trying to book a table at a Thai restaurant, but it hadn't been open when she tried to call, or when we drove passed the first time, so we did that on the way back to the house, and just had time for a quick snack on some fruit and a glass of lemonade, before going back out again to get there. Pat retained her reputation as Mrs Cashew Nut by ordering vegetable and cashew nut (her Indian friend had told her mother that Pat had gone to an Indian cooking course where they made a recipe which used 250 g of cashew nuts, and so the mother called her Mrs. Cashew Nut- Pat also ordered chicken and cashew nut when we went to the Chinese the other night). We were all very full by the end!