Tag 79 to 82 Christchurch and Banks Peninsula

Our next stop was the city of Christchurch, which is still heavily marked by a violent earthquake in 2010 - Many destroyed buildings and even completely abandoned blocks of houses between neogothic architecture made of concrete and glass, with surprisingly lots of green in between. We spent a lot of time in the beautifully designed botanical garden and its greenhouses. The next day we drove to Banks Peninsula, located outside the city, where we had a great view of the peninsula with its harbor in an old volcanic crater from a mountain ridge. In the evening at the campsite, we were hit by a storm, which forced us to flee from our beautiful spot under the trees, as they were frighteningly movable. (: Luckily, Emma (and we) remained unharmed and the road was clear, so we could drive to Akaroa - the harbor village - in the morning. We visited the unspectacular cemetery of the first French settlers and sailed in the afternoon with a great yacht (49 feet and completely made of Kauri wood) into the crater. On the way, we saw many cormorants and shags, sea lions and even some white-flippered penguins and a little blue penguin in the water. As a conclusion, we treated ourselves to a gourmet version of fish and chips with freshly caught salmon from the bay. Yummy.