Sunday, July 27, 2008

Where I was

This is Banks Peninsula on the east side of the South Island of New Zealand, taken from space. Previously I lived at Lyttelton, the harbour (and port of Christchurch, the SI's main city)at the top left hand corner of the photo. Akaroa, where I spent the weekend, is on the big harbour on the lower part of the image. The 2 harbours are formed from the craters of ancient volcanoes. I love the landscape around here -you can see how mountainous the terrain is!
There was some snow around on the hills on the way to Akaroa. You wind up a very large hill, and then wind down the other side to where the harbour starts.
This little waterfall on the way down was going strong - there'd been a lot of rain over here.
We went looking around on Saturday morning in the township, as the weather was fairly fine. This is one of the lovely old cottages - taken on the wrong camera setting unfortunately.
And another - there are many cute buildings here.
Fire & Ice sells gemstones, crystals, pearls and essential oils.
Overnight, there had been more snow. This is across the harbour.
And this is the jetty where you can go out on trips to see (and swim with ) NZ's rare little Hector dolphins. There are also 2 types of penguins that live in the harbour, and breed on the farmland further around closer to the heads.

The weather deteriorated and it rained for most of the rest of the time were there. I read a bit and knitted quite a bit by the fire. I'll be ready to start sewing up the charcoal Classic Slant Cardigan soon.

8 comments:

Donald said...

Nice photos Shirley. And how low the snow is for the area!

Love those olde world buildings, and when there I alway wonder at the quirks of history: how close we came to being a French colony!

kirsten said...

You really made me miss Akaroa with thos ephotos - and I've only been there once! What a beautfiul place it is. It's stuck in my mind as one of the loveliest places I have ever been.

Ali Honey said...

Great photos of a really unique part of our country. The shot from the air is amazing. Akaroa reminds me of Russelll in the Bay of Islands only colder! Same cute buildings and small, slower pace simplicity.

Keep warm!

The Idaho Beauty said...

My dream is to visit New Zealand. You've confirmed it!

sharon young said...

Fantastic post, Shirley, really gave a flavour of your part of NZ. I'd love to visit one day, our neighbours did and said it was an amazing trip.

Françoise said...

Beautiful! I want to visit this region one day too.

Unknown said...

I want one of those beautiful cottages!!!

Linda’s Textiles said...

This brings back memories, Akaroa was one of the highlights of our month in NZ, a gorgeous place. Interesting to see it with snow.