Christchurch and Lyttelton, New Zealand

Well, two alarms and a wake-up call got me out of bed at 4 am to check on the ballooning. The news was bad on the other end of the phone line. Weather conditions were not appropriate. Well, I needed a sulk – but no malt scotch was available and it was too early for chocolate. So I went back to sleep, very disappointed. When I got up at a reasonable time, I booked a wildlife cruise in Lyttelton Harbour and a gondola ride for the afternoon. I spent the morning finishing my tour of Christchurch, especially the walk along the banks of the meandering Avon River with its magnificent trees and romantic punters. Very English. Went inside the Anglican Cathedral – very pretty and very simple. I noted that there would be a Choral Evensong Service at 5:30 and thought of going. After a lunch of delicious soup and bread in the Cathedral café, I sat in the sun in Cathedral Square and watched the world go by - schoolboys of all ages in uniforms of knee pants and knee socks; lots of office employees having their lunches; tourists from all over the world; and the gnome, a local personality dressed like a wizard, albeit a very tatty one!

At 12:45 I boarded the bus, which took us down to Lyttelton Harbour, about 20 minutes from the city centre. We boarded a small catamaran and headed out to search for Hector’s Dolphins, the smallest dolphin species in the world and one of the rarest. Well, since dolphins are curious fun-loving creatures, they did not disappoint. They are lovely, only a little over 4’ long; pale blue/grey with distinct black markings on the fins, tail and head, which have earned them the nickname “panda of the seas”. They delighted us with their antics. As we made our way to the Pacific, we saw pied and spotted cormorants and terns. We also passed some gun emplacements in the cliffs at the entrance to the harbour – installations dating back to the “Russian scare” when, in the 19th century Russia and Great Britain were at war over Afghanistan and New Zealand feared reprisals from the Russians. Needless to say, the Russians never came. We also saw the remains of a fortified island, and also a mainland camp, for the quarantine of immigrants. The harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano and the scenery is stunning, the water turquoise. It was warm, even hot at times and sunny, but very cold heading into the wind.

After the cruise, some of us took the gondola to the top of the Port Hills, on the crater rim. The views of Christchurch, the Canterbury Plains, Banks Peninsula, Lyttelton and the Pacific are stunning. Thanks to a tunnel through the basalt, Lyttelton is a thriving harbor with a small container port.

During the cruise, I struck up a conversation with a Yorkshirewoman, Maureen, and we did the gondola ride together. She is staying at the same hotel and so we arranged to have dinner together. As we left the bus that had taken us back to Cathedral Square, I said I was going to take the trolley ride around the city and then go to Evensong. She asked about the service and I asked her if she was Anglican. Turns out she is a retired
Anglican priest!!! So, yes, she is Anglican! Not only that, but also, as our dinner conversation revealed, she was the first woman priest ordained in England. She came very late to her calling and retired after only 11 years as a parish priest. She said, had I not asked about her religion, she never would have raised her profession – very private.

The trolley ride was fun and I saw lots of lovely old houses and B&Bs and part of the University’s Oxford-like buildings – students in black and white striped blazers. So English, yet again! The Evensong service was lovely with an excellent choir. We had a very nice dinner in the hotel dining room – complete with Sauvignon Blanc, of course. I had a delicious fish whose name I could not understand – very like grouper (or groper as they pronounce it in the Antipodes). We had some wide-ranging conversations, including the current problems facing the Anglican Communion. It was interesting to hear her perspective, of course.