Month: January 2026

Christchurch and area

We left Hanmer Springs in sunshine and blue skies. The forecast was calling for some clouds and cooler weather later in the day but we had a lovely start.

It was a rocky start as we left Hanmer Springs.
Along the Waiau Uwha River

We also had lots of grazing areas.

This area looked like it might be a fault line. It was along the Waipara Weka Pass.

We soon learned that a pass was not quite like we experience it. It is a way through the mountains, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a big climb to the summit.

We arrived in Christchurch just after noon. We had discussed options of what to do and one was a gondola ride to the top of the “mountain” to the south of the city. We headed there but upon further discussion, decided it wasn’t worth paying about $35 each to go up. It wasn’t very high and looking at our map, we could drive some roads that would take us close to the summit.

Coming across the causeway to get to the gondola looking at a suburb of Christchurch.
Overlooking the Port of Lyttelton as we head up the Summit Road.
From Evan’s Pass Road – view of Lyttelton Harbour – love the colour!
View of Lyttelton Harbour from the other side.
Final view before we left the shoreline views

Arriving back into the main part of Christchurch, we filled with fuel, picked up a couple of groceries and then headed to check in to our motel for the night. It was the first we filled the tank more than half and cost us about $80 CND. In New Zealand, the cars we’ve rented have used 91 octane which sells between $ 2.35 and over $ 2.70/ litre. In Canadian prices, that would be between $ 1.95 and $ 2.25/litre. Also, diesel is significantly cheaper. We’ve seen it as low as $ 1.35 CND. We’re thankful to have had hybrid vehicles which have given us an economy of about 5 l/100 km.

Tomorrow we leave the east coast for a while and head west.

Heading back to Christchurch through a different route

We enjoyed another nice breakfast at Eden’s Edge before loading the car to drive back south. Unfortunately, not only had it rained during the night, but it was raining quite hard when we packed up.

However, the rain did let up and we even saw patches of blue sky and sunshine.

We drove through some beautiful tree canopies.
Lots of rocky cliffs as well as evidence of past logging.

Arriving in Hanmer Springs, it reminded us of a smaller version of Banff, complete with hot springs. We did a quick grocery shop for a store prepared pizza. Our motel had a commercial kitchen at our disposal complete with a couple of full sized oven! Wonderful pizza!

Who wouldn’t want to cook here?

We ate an early supper and headed across the street to the thermal springs. It was a large area which included a water park.

The pools in the water park were 28 – 32 degrees C but the hot pools ranged 34 – 42. The area was definitely quieter after supper. We enjoyed lounging until closing time at 9:30

Tomorrow, I t’s a shorter drive to Christchurch so we have time tor some sightseeing.