Akaroa

We did manage to sneak away for the day to Akaroa, about an hour's drive from Christchurch.

 Akaroa is the place where the French originally colonized New Zealand only to find out the English had beat them to the punch.

 Now it is a little fishing & village with a strong tourist trade including whale & dolphin watching operators.

With a baby in tow, there would be no whale watching for us so the only wildlife watching was the gulls including the large Black Winged Gulls (below).

  And the cheeky red beaked gulls.

Back to New Zealand

Nearly two years after the epic around the world trip, we finally left the country again, this time with our ten month old son, Harry. New Zealand isn't exactly a far away destination with an exotic culture, but with a baby, it was far enough for us.
A fair amount of the trip was about visiting Kerri's relatives who were jostling to meet Harry. Consequently, much of the time was spent close to Christchurch.

Wildlife was limited to the ducks.

 There are some great views of the Southern Alps from Summit Road that runs along the ridge between Christchurch & Lyttelton.

 And the views on the Lyttelton side are just as interesting.

 Lyttelton was in the process of re-build after to earthquake that was generated in Lyttelton Harbour that also caused widespread destruction in Christchurch.