Catching up with Rellies

Thursday 19th February 2009

We received a very warm welcome from cousin Linda and Edmund at their lovely home on the outskirts of Christchurch.

We had a nice chat and a lovely lunch with cherry tomatoes from the garden(!), and then Linda & Edmund took us on a tour of the surrounding area.

Our exclusive tour(!!), took us to Port Hills - the Port Hills separate Christchurch from Lyttleton Harbour, and Edmund told us that they were formed as the result of the eruption of the now extinct Lyttleton volcano.

Because of their proximity to the city the hills are popular with walkers, runners, rock climbers and mountain bikers. Linda & Edmund told us that they regularly walk with the local ramblers association here in the Port Hills.

Despite the cloudy skies, the winding route up the Port Hills provided striking views of Lyttleton Harbour, the Canterbury Plains and on clearer days we are told you can see the Southern Alps. We had good views across to Diamond Harbour on the far side of the bay, where there is a ferry from Lyttleton.

The summit of the Port Hills can also be accessed via the Christchurch Gondola which we could see from our stopping point on the side of the road - Linda and Edmund told us that there are wedding celebrations held there regularly and on one occasion, the cable car was forced to stop running due to high winds and the wedding party were stranded at the summit overnight!!

Lyttleton was the landing place of the Canterbury Pilgrims, brought out by the Canterbury Association to populate the new province in 1850. From our vantage point Edmund pointed out the track that the pilgrims would have used to tramp up the hill from the harbour , they would have been carrying all their belongings including grand pianos(!), and wearing frocks and skirts - no easy task!!

In 1867 a rail tunnel was drilled through the volcanic rock of the Port Hills to provide a link between Lyttleton and Christchurch, and a road tunnel was completed in 1964.

We then drove on very shear mountain roads on to Sumner, passing a lovely bay called Okains Bay which is owned soley by Maori. They have a meeting house there. Sumner was a little town with a promanade along the front, with a nice beach and a big rock which had been carved out by the sea, leaving a cave like passageway. There were some big houses lining the hills here, some perched quite precariously.
We had a lovely day being shown around on a personal tour and were also able to catch up on family news past and present. We looked at some old photos that Linda had inherited from her Mum, and we tried to identify all the family members. We had a delicious dinner at Linda and Edmunds, and we hooked up with Della’s parents on the web cam so they could all catch up.

We were so glad that we were able to call in on Linda and Edmund and re-establish a friendship, the last time they had seen Della was when she was 3yrs old! Now that the connection has been re-established we will be able to keep in touch. A big thanks to Linda and Edmund for making us so welcome.