We finished our day in Christchurch by attending a choral evensong at the Anglican cathedral in Christchurch. The singing, done by the men and boys of the cathedral choir was lovely. As part of an annual event called the Festival of Flowers, the central aisle of the nave was decorated by a living floral carpet. This was a flower arrangement on the floor that was about 100 feet long, 4 feet wide, and, except for some highlights, only several inches high — an elaborate tapestry woven from an incredible variety of living flowers, leaves, and branches. We finished a great first day with a meal at Nobanno, which bills itself as the only Bangladeshi restaurant in New Zealand. We enjoyed their food — which was similar to Indian food we have had, very spicy and fragrant, but without the peppery heat of much Indian food.
Monday morning we picked up a rental car. We had found an excellent rate by agreeing to have an older car (over 100,000 miles). Of course, we knew that driving in New Zealand would require driving on the left, which had us somewhat nervous. What we had not counted on was that the older car we were renting might have a stick shift. We have both driven stick shifts in the past — but probably not for 20 years. In addition, because the driver sits on the right, in this car you shift with your left, not your right hand. I am happy to report that we made it safely through our first day. It was a day with several driving challenges because, now that we had a car and could easily move around Christchurch, we wanted to open a bank account, get a SIM card for the cell phone, and pick up some provisions. Although we found places where we could take care of these chores outside of the central city, with its confusing traffic patterns and dense traffic, this still involved city driving. Once we left the city, the driving was considerably less stressful. Fortunately, the gears (except for the always peripatetic reverse) are still in what seems to us to be the “normal” positions. It turned out that what seemed to cause the greatest problem was that the turn signal was on the right side of the steering wheel — many too many times the signal that cars behind us received of an intended turn or lane change was the actuation of our windshield wipers!
From Christchurch we drove south and east about 100 km (you’ll just have to convert yourself, we’ve gone metric) onto the Banks Peninsula. The photo below is an aerial view that I found on a NZ government website.
Volcanic activity between 6 and 11 million years ago led to the formation of two overlapping volcanic cones. After this activity stopped, the cones were gradually eroded to about half their original height and deep valleys have formed. We are staying at Halfmoon Cottage, a “backpackers” on Barry’s Bay, which is part of Akaroa Harbor the deep harbor at center left. This was formed about 7,000 years ago when the sea rose to its present height and flooded the valleys. Notice also the snow-covered Southern Alps are in the background of this photo; we drive there on Wednesday.
Backpackers are budget hostels. At least in New Zealand, they typically offer accommodation in both traditional, “single” and “double” rooms as well as in “dorm” style rooms with 4 or more bunks shared by people who may be unrelated. They also typically make kitchen facilities available. Halfmoon Cottage, which you can see on the left, appears to be unusually elegant, and our double room is spacious and comfortable.
The destination on the Banks Peninsula is the town of Akaroa, which is across the harbor from us. It is a quaint, touristy village, that plays up its French roots. We enjoyed dinner there last night and have had a great time driving the country roads through the spectacular scenery here.