SOUTH ISLAND
By Bob Van Leer

  (Christchurch, N. Z, March 7, 2003) - We arrived here this morning after a day's sail from Auckland. Actually, we didn't arrive at Christchurch, but at Lyttelton, its port city, which is about five miles away over a 1500 feet high ridge.

  Christchurch itself is on the large, flat Canterbury Plain. It is a classic English city, the largest on South Island with a population (2000) of 341,000, set down in the South Pacific. It is a community planned by the English with an emphasis on the Church of England and is centered around Cathedral Square. It is called the "Garden City", and it is. Inside the city limits are many manicured parks and gardens, some public and some private.

   The slow-moving Avon River wanders through the city and parks. Even some private businesses have outstanding gardens. The English brought along their flowers, but also some pests such as gorse and Scotch broom.

  We took a bus tour from Lyttelton to the city and went over the tortuous road over the top of the ridge, which is really the rim of an extinct volcano crater. On our return we went through the tunnel dug through the ridge which, I would estimate, cuts the driving time by about 80%.

  The hills surrounding Lyttelton harbor remind us of the Wedderburn Hills at home. Tonight we will leave the harbor for an overnight run to Wellington, situated on North Island on the Cook Strait that separates the two islands.