The South Island

After an easy and quick flight we landed in Christchurch, collected our car and hit the road. We hired another older care, but this time with a little more umph under the bonnet (not alot, but it all helps when going up the never ending hills). After the various major earthquakes and minor quakes since, we decided to skip staying in Christchurch, so drove about 2 hours directly east, on to Banks Pensinula. This is a lovely little out crop of 2 extinct volcanoes, that form a great landscape of little bays and ridge top walks.

Kip had travelled to this part of the works before and was very excited about coming back to one hostel in particular, Half Moon Cottage. Well needless to say, we were not disappointed, the cottage was soo welcoming it was lovely. It was situated just alongside a place called Barrys Bay. The cottage itself had a veranda around 3 sides, which were flanked by some amazing gardens. If this place was mine, Kip wouldn't see me for weeks, for tending to the flower beds, lawns, trees....

The main hub on the Banks Peninsula is a place called Akaroa, a lovely quant village type affair, with a strong French influence. I think through history, this was one of the only places the French managed to settle in NZ, so the theme has continued. We spent the day mooching round the sites and enjoying the sunshine. Although, the south island is about 10 degrees cooler than the north, so the jeans are out instead of the shorts, but hopefully this will be short lived.

We stayed at Half Moon cottage for another night and continued to relax and just enjoy the area; taking walks by the sea and enjoying the spectacular views. On our 3rd day we decided that one more night was needed here, but sadly Half Moon cottage was full, so we stayed a short drive away at another lovely hostel, tucked away in one of the many bays, a place called Okains Bay. 


Again we just chilled out here, walked on the beach and relaxed. I managed to start to sort through the 5000+ pictures I have already taken. That took some many hours to do, but a worthwhile job indeed! So after chilling out for a few days we decided to get back on the road and start to see the wonders of the south island. Our first leg would be a 4 hour drive from the Banks Pensinula in land and then into the central south lands to a place called Lake Tekapo.