Lyttleton /Dean's Bush and North Brighton

Dean's House

Dean's Bush

Lyttleton Harbour

Christchurch from Port Hill

North Brighton Beach

North Brighton Beach



Yesterday I spent the day with Jim and Dee, old friends from Lincoln England. We headed out to the Port Hills which overlook Lyttleton Harbour, the port for Christchurch. The Summit Road is not for the faint hearted. There are few guard rails and lots of sheet cliffs. The view is fabulous though . Lyttleton is the harbour where many pioneer women landed in the early 1800's. They had to walk up the cliff side to see the view of what would become Christchurch, but at that time was  just a swamp.

Later in the afternoon we went over to Dean's House / Bush. This was farm of one of the founding families of Christchuirch. The Dean's had the foresight to set apart an area of their property as virgin bush land which has remained fairly untouched since that time. Huge white pin, native shrubs and the elusive kiwi bird is a reminder of what the area was before being gentrified by the British.

Dee works in the operating rooms of St. george's hospital. We went by for a brief tour of the facility and managed to see Richie Mc Caw, a major god here in NZ as he is the head of the All Blacks rugby team. Dee was all aflutter, managed to be much more restrained had I run in to my demi god- Tom Brady. Made for some excitement anyway. 

Today  I went out to the North Beach area of the city where my aunt and uncle live. Had a lovely lunch at the pier . One side was dark and threatening while the other was full of sun shine.