Just Keep Sailing South

To the Banks Penninsula.  Where you find Akaroa.  This place was founded on the edge of a crater from an extinct volcano.

The ships dock here so they can transit people into Christchurch. Christchurch had a significant earthquake the Sunday we started this cruise.  And here it was The Friday after.  It didn't really do much damage and they say Christchurch is always shaking.  It sits right where two fault lines come together. I certainly wouldn't be staying there if that was me!!! Still lots of destruction evident there from the quake in Feb.2011.  We were there almost 5 years later!  Lots of rebuilding too, using new earthquake resistant technology.

This is the memorial they built for all the people that lost their lives with the quake.

There is a walking mall there.

And a working tram

It was at least an hour drive to reach Christchurch through beautiful New Zealand countryside.  Lots of green rolling farmland dotted with many sheep farms.  I would have liked to stop more for photos, but no such luck when you are on a tour bus.

    

Most of these photos were shot from the bus moving down the road.

These silos are now a hotel.  Very inventive, I think.  I would have liked to peek inside them!

This used to be the site where the stage coach stopped back in the day!

We loved the little town of Akaroa and would have liked to have been there longer.

Next up, we visit a sheep farm.