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We drove into Christchurch from Arthurs Pass. We saw a little of the city centre but they are still recovering from the earthquakes. There is now alot of work being done to the city and residential homes as the insurance companies have just payed out so it seems like it is all go! We drove south of Christchurch to Lyttelton which is a cool quirky little town facing out to the sea and the Banks Peninsula. It is really arty and pretty cool, they were pretty hard hit by the earthquakes too and as before the rebuild seems to be on the way. We liked the way that one of the main bars in Lyttleton had re-located to some big storage containers whilst the building was repaired! The centre of christchurch had also done this with their shopping mall . . . it is now a container mall!
We drove round the coast on to the Banks Peninsula. It was an awesome drive and the landscape changed to beautiful golden grassed steep hills jutting out of the sea with limestone rocks and beautiful beaches and batches. We stopped at a place called Orton Bradley Park to camp. It is a really cool privately owned park with lots of walks and gardens. We had a lovely evening walk before heading to bed. I woke up in the night and was confused at how light it was outside. I went out and saw the stars . . . we had gazed at the stars before in NZ as they are amazing but this night somehow was even better . . . there were so many of them and they were all so bright!! I took some photos for a while and then when i came back to the van James woke up and we both lay in bed witht he boot open looking at the sky. We then realised that there was a lightning storm happening out to the horrizon towards Christchurch. Watching that with the stars above us was one of the most exciting, beautifly stiunning things that we have seen. I went for a run in the morning to the 'Big Rock' and as the ranger told me . . . it was indeed a big rock! It was a beautiful run up to the rock where i looked out over the peninsular, sea and Christchurch. It may be the last run that i do for a little while though as my ankle was not happy with me! We carried on driving round the coast to some lovely sunny spots. Pigeon Bay for lunch and Okains Bay for a chill and a book read! Next stop was Akaroa which is the port where the French first landed. The town is really cool as it still has alot of the french influences. The restaurants serve french food even the architecture, and shopnames are french. We had an ice-cream, maybe not so French but definately refreshing!
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