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We're up at a reasonable hour to head up to Christchurch. It's a pretty dull road, long straights through flat farming country. It's very golden-yellow for spring, it looks like a post summer dryness rather than the start of summer [I think I had my seasons wrong!]. The sun's out so the heat can be quite oppressive even at 9 in the morning.

We reach Christchurch at lunchtime and check-in to the hostel, yet another from BBH. Today's major activity is to avail ourselves of Akaroa or Bank's Peninsula. Akaroa is an extinct volcano now weather beaten into a broadly circular 40km diameter hilly protusion off the coast by Christchurch. The valleys are now a series of little bays, most of which are pretty inaccessible hence everybody heading for Akaroa town which is accessible. French colonists landed here days after Britain was signed up as protector of NZ and caused a bit of a flurry before being left to their own devices. That has translated now into a very busy little seaside town with art galleries, dolphin swimming and some nice restaurants.

That's about it really for Akaroa (town and peninsula) so we took a look up at Lyttleton, home to the Lyttleton time ball tower. So far as I can tell this was a ruddy great big cannonball type thing that was dropped at 1pm everyday so that mariners could set their chronographs by it. I have no idea whether you, on your boat, were meant to be watching or listening or what. A peculiar oddity from maritime history. Today it is dropped for the benefit of tourists but we were well late. Lyttleton is [otherwise] an unattractive industrial port town so we went straight home, not even spying the [time ball] tower (presumably a building with a large ball on the roof). The Lyttleton road tunnel saves a long drive over the silt plains of three big "braiding" rivers [from the Southern Alps] which have created the large agricultural flatland around here and, over the years, joined Akaroa to the mainland.

We ambled into Christchurch from the hostel and achieved little other than a potential 10 hours Internet use for NZ$ 15 (it would have to start at 8am and finish at 11pm -- conditions are applying). We showered in anticipation of an early start tomorrow -- for some reason the shuttle to the railway station will pick us up at 7.25 for the 8.40 checkin -- then head off into town for a pleasant BYO curry. I was quite surprised that our NZ$ 21 Esk Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Malbec was a screw cap. How cheap. After a beer we joined the throngs in Catherdral Square for the de rigeur [PA] You've got less than two minutes, less than 30 seconds, 10, 9, ..., 1 all in one breath as an appreciation of the time dawned. Who knows what time was chanted down to but the bell ringers sensibly took their cue from the crowd.

Dorset House, Christchurch S43.52238 E172.62747 Elev. -18m!