Lyttleton: Sunny, 26

The Bridle Trail:

Today we decided that we'd had enough of walking through endless miles of damaged buildings and disrupted lives (we walked the east side of town all afternoon...depressing) and that what we needed was a good walk in the countryside on our last full day in NZ! So we of course slept in for the first time on the trip, and then after an unusual breakfast of chicken, toast, pineapple and tomatoes (clearing out all our left over food!) we caught a bus to Lyttelton which is located on the Banks Peninsula. This area is a massive ancient volcano, no less. Lyttelton is a quaint little sea port where unprocessed logs are loaded onto ships to presumably be sent onwards to China and SE Asia. 

Of course this areas landfill water front was badly damaged by the earthquake as well, so we had to pass by a number of damaged buildings yet again as we made our way through town to the start of the trail. 

The trail we walked today isn't particularly long, but it is a bit steep and has all sorts of history. This was the route that the pioneers used in the 1850's to cross over the volcanic rim and into the caldera where there is a beautiful natural harbour.

If you look at how these folks are dressed and keep this in mind as you view my photos, it will perhaps be a bit more impressive. Life is so much easier now!

We were told that the route suffered some slide damage during the quake, but for the most part, things were pretty straight forward as we climbed the rim.

It was a beautiful day to walk up and once at the top we traversed along the rim road.

We enjoyed the views out towards Christchurch and the Cantebury Plains. You can see why the earthquake did so much damage with the energy rebounding back and forth over the old swamp area between the mountainous areas.

A nice tramp down...

Then it was back into town and we found a few more bits of wall art on the walk back to our place. A brilliant peice about melting penguins and global warming...

And another...

And another!

Tomorrow at 4:15am our host will take us to the airport for our flight to Hobart via Melbourne, and thus will end our excellent NZ adventure! It was a surprisingly good experience given I had no real expectations and I'd heard that NZ is so much like the part of Canada where we reside. I think it's safe to say that I'm glad I didn't miss it. As is our custom, we will discuss our experiences and the pros and cons over dinner tonight given we ate our dinner food at breakfast! I'll leave you with a few photos from the botanical gardens...