Canterbury and Banks Peninsula

Banks Peninsula, is an ancient volcanic double cone on the eastern coast of the flat alluvial Canterbury Plains. The huge drowned craters provide the deep water harbour’s of Lyttleton Port; and Akaroa. Between Lyttleton and Christchurch are the Port Hills, on the northern slopes of which lie some of the city’s suburbs. The Port Hills were unfortunately stripped of native vegetation by the early European settlers, and are now covered in grass, which becomes very yellow in the region’s hot dry summers.

Christchurch itself is an extremely flat city (apart from the hill suburbs), and has the distinction of being the one city in a relatively pollution-free country that suffers from LA-style inversion layer weather during the winter, and hence smog.

If you find yourself there with a few days to spare, here’s a sample itinerary which while not exactly ‘a thrill a minute’ aka Queenstown’s attractions; it’s nevertheless a relaxing interlude which won’t break the bank either.

Hurunui River is an hour’s drive to the north of Christchurch. It shows the characteristic ‘braided’ banks of rounded grey gravel of the rivers in the South island.