The Grand Tour

After our "continental" breakfast, which included scrambled egg and bacon, we reorganised our suitcases so that we could board the train tomorrow.
We were then picked up at the guest house by a 45-seater coach for "the grand tour"; there was another guest from our accommodation and ... no-one else!
First stop was the boatyard for our punting on the Avon.
This was a 30-minute trip on a wodden punt steered by a well-dressed man in a boater (Cambridge-style"!

We the re-joined our coach for a mini-tour of Christchurch and then headed for Tarkaha reserve, a high look-out point over the Canterbury plains.  As you can see, the weather was glorious and reached 26 degrees in the afternoon.  Our driver then took us to the coast at Sumner, which had been badly affected by the eathquakes, as its subsoil was much sandier and the cliffs were more fragile.  Many of the very expensive cliff-top residences have been condemned and the insurance has yet to pay out.
Containers had been placed at the roadsides to protect the road from rockfalls in subsequent aftershocks.

Many had been decorated with artworks or graffitti.
We were then taken back to the botanical gardens for a tour on the "caterpillar"
We returned to the guest house, picked up our car and took a trip out to New Brighton, which was the most commercialised seaside town we had seen in New Zealand.  There were crowds there enjoying the warm sunshine and the conclusion of the busking festival.

It had a very strong pier, which had survived the earthquakes and was vibrant and very different from its namesake inthe Wirral!
We drove back to the airport and left the car in the designated place, walked through to international arrivals and were just in time to catch a shuttle which took us all the way back to our accommodation.
We got bakc just in time for our free glass of wine and then we sat outsaide in the picnic area and drank our Georges Michel bottle of Syrah and ate the snack we had bought in the supermarket at new Brighton.  Iona, who had been with us on the Grand Tour, joined us and shared our picnic.  Other guests passed by for a friendly chat!