Littleton and Christ Church, NZ

Today, we rode a double decker bus on a tour.  The beginning of the day was disappointing because it was socked in and a bit rainy.  We left Littleton by tunnel through the mountain range that separated the Littleton from Christ Church.  A straight shot of over one mile through to the other side.  The port of Littleton is small but very busy.

As soon as we got through the tunnel, the weather started to improve.  Our first stop was an overlook that is at the top of the mountain above the tunnel.  We had some nice views of Christ Church and learned a lot of information about the communities.

There were quite a few flowering plants on the hillside.

The home of the people who owned the land before donating it to the city is now a coffee shop.

The city is in a valley of the largest area of flat ground in NZ.  The surprise was when building started to be constructed the buildings sank.  The area is actually an old swamp and very soft.  There is little or any solid ground above the 60 foot mark below the surface.  Today all buildings sit on large columns driving in at least that far down. Crazy!  Otherwise, they are built up on the hillsides.

​Very recently there was a terrible earthquake.  They have earthquakes multiple times a day in NZ but large deadly quakes are rare.  The most recent was in 2011 but only killed 1 person as the city is very prepared compared to most communities.  In the past, large earthquakes would destroy or damage thousands of buildings.

It always surprises me what each country has as traffic and parking signs.  No Cruising?

After an interesting drive through town, we stopped at a park/biological flowers…  and took a short walk.  It was very pretty with lots of varieties including a large rose garden.  Right down town but still seeming to be far out in the country.

More tour of town and then we took a seaside road back to the ship.  We passed several recognizable fast food restaurants.  Some of the buildings were interesting and many had murals. ​

The highway back to the ship took us high above the bay. ​

Back at the ship.

Tonight, we had a performance by a magician on the mainstage.  Steve Marshall was very good and funny.  We had a good time.

Off to our next port.  It is hard to not take the beautiful sunsets for granted when you have one almost every day.