February 26 - Christchurch & Akaroa

February 26 – Christchurch & Akaroa

Christchurch is New Zealand’s second largest city, first settled in 1840.  It has the reputation of being The Garden City with an abundance of parks and gardens throughout the city and suburbs.  Sadly, in February 2011, Christchurch suffered a huge earthquake that severely damaged the city and surrounding areas.  As you will see in the pictures, there is a lot of work to be done to bring the city back to it’s former grandeur. 

Because of the challenges still facing the city and especially it’s harbor we anchored in Akaroa, the oldest colonial town in New Zealand’s South Island, and the country’s only French settlement. Nestled in the heart of an ancient volcano, Akaroa’s beautiful bays and harbor are home to the smallest dolphin, the Hectors dolphin, as well as New Zealand Fur Seals & Little Blue Penguins.  The village is full of nice little restaurants, cute shops and as in all of New Zealand, friendly people.

Because of the 90 minute drive to Christchurch most of the excursions involved activities in Akaroa. Rick and I elected to do the helicopter flight for an aerial view of Christchurch and transportation to do a jet boat ride on one of the rivers outside of Christchurch.  It was my first ride in a helicopter!

 

Enjoy the pictures.  Cheers!

Our helicopter arrived and landed in a cow/sheep pasture!

I got to be the co-pilot

Aerial view of Akaroa with our ship anchored in the bay

Mussel farming in one of the bays on the way to Christchurch.
Mussels are grown on the black lines in the water

A look how walls of rock cliffs broke off into the sea during the earthquake
leaving houses perched close to the edge

More erosion of the cliffs 

Entire subdivisons were destroyed, leaving behind land too unstable
to rebuild on.

All the debris from the earthquake was delivered to this area where
it is gone through on a daily basis

Our jet boat awaits

The river for our jet boat ride.  Some areas had a depth of only a few inches!

The Akaroa lighthouse at the harbor

One of the many cute shops in Akaroa

Really cool camper!  Akaroa is a great vacation spot.

The local Butcher shoppe

Interesting lawn art!

Great rock formations at the entrance to the harbor

You can see how tight the entrance to the harbor is.