This entry is dedicated to Ron and Joy

We have spent the past few days with Ron and Joy. They have kindly been showing us Christchurch and around. The icing on the cake has been Ron's amazing drinks cabinet; as well as the usual brandy, Bacardi, gin, whisky and vodka was an impressive array of liqueurs (approximately 35); there was even a bottle of After Shock!! (Although, I hasten to add, our days of After Shock are truly behind us.)

On Friday we drove along the Summit Road in Christchurch to a place called Lyttleton; there were fantastic views of Christchurch and the surrounding hills from the road. Lyttleton itself has a port and our visit there was at the request of Brian (Matt's dad) who has fond memories of docking here from his days in the merchant navy. We then drove to an area called Banks Peninsular and visited a town called Akaroa. There was some amazing scenery as the peninsular was formed as the result of giant volcanic eruptions that happened ages ago.

On the Saturday we had a wander around Christchurch centre which was very reminiscent of an English cathedral city. With a population of just 340,000 it's hard to believe it's one of the major cities in the country. We've really noticed how much space there is here and how quiet the roads are but I suppose with only around 4 million people in a country of similar size to the UK it's not really surprising. Anyway, on the Sunday we took the long drive west to Arthur's Pass and today we took a drive out to a place called Sumner.

For our final evening here Joy cooked us a lovely meal and, liqueur in hand, we sat back and enjoyed some slideshows of Ron's. That sounds a bit seedy doesn't it?? Far from it. Did I mention that Ron is actually a multi-award winning photographer and extremely well known and highly regarded throughout Australasia and beyond? His photographs are stunning.

We've been impressed with what we've seen so far; it's certainly extremely scenic in these parts and we are really looking forward to exploring the rest of the south island as we head out on our own tomorrow.