About 16kms, or 10 miles, of cycling around Christchurch sightseeing. Christchurch city centre shows a few signs of the earthquake that happened a month or so ago - especially just out of the historic core where there are some empty rows of shops and the occasional building with a danger notice stuck on it.We started off with a visit to a bookshop on Riccarton Road (I had a puncture and mended it in the grounds of an earthquake damaged house while the nearby bookshop provided some interest and Guy found a book) - the route fom Amber Holiday Park into Christchurch. Then into the town centre where we had a quick look at the city centre before joining the Botanic Gardens tour.The tour was fun - both informative and enjoyable. The lady who led the tour really knew the garden and showed us many highlights of the garden - especially the trees. Trees in NZ, Oz and South America are genetically connected through sharing a common ancestor in the supercontinent (Gondwanaland?) that preceded the separate existence of NZ, Oz, South America, etc.We saw oak trees that don't shed their leaves in winter, discovered that the NZ beech isn't a beech in the sense of the European beech forests but is so named due to occupying the equivalent ecological niche as the European beech, and saw some wonderful old trees - Redwoods, cedars, an english oak, a young kauri tree (growing well south of its usual range up north of Auckland, one even with branches low down on the trunk which is not usual when in the dense confines of a forest) or two. And we were warned that the a NZ rose may identical to those in the northern hemisphere but have a different common name. There's a decent tearoom there too.Then we hurried off to see bookshops only to discover that my tube repair had not worked and so we walked to Manchester Street which is a good place for books. And, more importantly, spare bike bits. So the bike tube problems were solved.Then to The Twisted Hop, where once again we were impressed by beers brewed on site. The Pale Ale is the best - very fruity and hoppy. The pizzas are OK too.Then we headed off via the New World Supermarket to the campsite. We're heading to Greymouth on the scenic Tranz Alp Railway tomorrow with the idea of travelling back to Picton via the quieter roads of the Reefton, etc, area rather than dodging highway 1 on the east coast. Highway 1 passing through your district is surely a bit of a blight - heavy trucks, commuter traffic, and a lot of noise.
About 16kms, or 10 miles, of cycling around Christchurch sightseeing. Christchurch city centre shows a few signs of the earthquake that happened a month or so ago - especially just out of the historic core where there are some empty rows of shops and the occasional building with a danger notice stuck on it.We started off with a visit to a bookshop on Riccarton Road (I had a puncture and mended it in the grounds of an earthquake damaged house while the nearby bookshop provided some interest and Guy found a book) - the route fom Amber Holiday Park into Christchurch. Then into the town centre where we had a quick look at the city centre before joining the Botanic Gardens tour.The tour was fun - both informative and enjoyable. The lady who led the tour really knew the garden and showed us many highlights of the garden - especially the trees. Trees in NZ, Oz and South America are genetically connected through sharing a common ancestor in the supercontinent (Gondwanaland?) that preceded the separate existence of NZ, Oz, South America, etc.We saw oak trees that don't shed their leaves in winter, discovered that the NZ beech isn't a beech in the sense of the European beech forests but is so named due to occupying the equivalent ecological niche as the European beech, and saw some wonderful old trees - Redwoods, cedars, an english oak, a young kauri tree (growing well south of its usual range up north of Auckland, one even with branches low down on the trunk which is not usual when in the dense confines of a forest) or two. And we were warned that the a NZ rose may identical to those in the northern hemisphere but have a different common name. There's a decent tearoom there too.Then we hurried off to see bookshops only to discover that my tube repair had not worked and so we walked to Manchester Street which is a good place for books. And, more importantly, spare bike bits. So the bike tube problems were solved.Then to The Twisted Hop, where once again we were impressed by beers brewed on site. The Pale Ale is the best - very fruity and hoppy. The pizzas are OK too.Then we headed off via the New World Supermarket to the campsite. We're heading to Greymouth on the scenic Tranz Alp Railway tomorrow with the idea of travelling back to Picton via the quieter roads of the Reefton, etc, area rather than dodging highway 1 on the east coast. Highway 1 passing through your district is surely a bit of a blight - heavy trucks, commuter traffic, and a lot of noise.