New Zealand - Up date

 

The first view we got from our apartment when we arrived last week.   We walk down to the beach in five minutes.  The  sea is still a bit cold for a swim but warming up each day still OK for a paddle. 

We are about twenty minutes drive from Christchurch and staying in Cass Bay with the views you can see.  The small town of Lyttelton is about five minutes away with local shops, this is where we attend the local C of  E church who have made us most welcome.

Lyttelton was the landing place for the Canterbury Pilgrims in 1850, the town and local area is part of a volcano, the volcanic rock of the Port Hills at around 500m makes for good mountain biking and walking.

  

View from the Port Hills of Cass Bay 

On Friday last we went over the mountains to visit Akaroa the oldest town in Canterbury and was founded by the French settlers in 1840, and has still has many French influences with street names and a lovely water front and from the Southern Ocean looks like a Norwegian  Fiord .