Akaroa to Christchurch

580m above Akaroa on Purple Peak Track

Sunrise at Hickory Bay

Le Bons Bay. The road is typical of those I walked on Banks Peninsula.

Mailbox Decanter Bay.

At Diamond (great name) Harbour looking across to Lyttleton.

Strange rock formation Governors Bay. 

Earthquake damage at Redcliffs. Shipping containers have been place to protect the road form rock falls. 

Kites aplenty at New Brighton

My intended 3 day stay in Akaroa turned into 6 days due to rain.
The time was mostly spent reading and recovering from a cold. Finally left Akaroa on Wednesday 10th October. The next week developed into a routine of walking uphill for the first half of the day and downhill for the second half, mostly walking on roads. I camped each night, at a bay, either at a designated site or near a toilet block. I averaged about 15km a day.

The first day I walked to Hickory Bay. I had contacted a couple of local landowners, through my PGG Wrightson, contacts and gained permission to walk across their land. I had forgotten to ask if I could camp at Hickory Bay but did not think this would be a problem. On arrival I found "Strictly No Camping" signs prominently displayed. The only person around was a young German Wwoofter  who phoned the owner on my behalf and I thought I had permission to camp. However about 7am the owner arrived on his motorbike and was concerned to find me camping. Although he was supportive of what I am doing he didn't want to set a precedent and asked that I be packed up at first light.

I reached Le Bons Bay on the Thursday and once again there were no camping signs but locals Bruce and Jenny advised where I could camp and refilled my water bottles. They also tried to contact a local farmer to get permission for me to cross his land the following day but there was no reply.

I stayed the Friday and Saturday night at Okains Bay Camping Ground. Luckily there is a small local shop where I was able to buy supplies, the owners also gave me a couple of books to read.
The heavy rain and wind forecast on the Saturday arrived at lunch time and I stayed in the camp kitchen reading until the weather eased off about 11.30pm. Once I got back to my tent I found it not only intact but still dry inside.

On Sunday morning I phoned 3 farmers to get permission to cross their land on Monday. The first 2 agreed readily enough but the 3rd was a manager and he declined as the American owner did not want people walking across his land. Sunday night was spent at Little Akoloa. There was a designated camping area near a toilet block. The custodian lived 400m up the road so I walked up the road to pay my $5 fee. Des showed me around his idyllic garden , vegetable plots, a stream running through the garden and his exotic birds flying freely about. Sadly Des's wife had passed away just 2 weeks previously.

On Monday I walked past Decanter Bay towards Menzies Bay and a car stopped. The driver was my PGG Wrightson contact Stewart Uren and he was driving to meet one of the landowners, Hamish Menzies who I had previously gained permission from to cross his land. Further up the road I met up again with Stewart and also with Hamish who gave me good directions for later in the day. I also arranged with Stewart to take my pack on to my destination of Pigeon Bay. It was great to be finally walking without the pack again. Walked up a valley to Starvation Gully Road then walked down the road. In fact in places the word road is too complimentary. Steep metal track  is  a better description. It was so steep in places that I had to walk very carefully for fear of slipping on the loose gravel. While descending this track a car stopped and asked if I wanted a lift (of course I declined) the driver was the wife of the other landowner who had given me permission to cross his land. I collected my pack from the Hall where Stewart had left it and set up at the Pigeon Bay camping grounds. Although there are about 20 caravans permanently installed on site I was the only person staying that night. Oh the loneliness of the long distance walker!!

On Tuesday I reached Port Levy and set up near a toilet block. Later I had 2 sets of visitors. Vesta and Lesley stopped to talk and on learning of my walk and the route I am taking offered their lawn to set up my tent when I reached New Brighton. Ben and his young family also stopped to talk and Ben gave me information about my route for the next couple of days. It was from Ben that I learnt about a ferry from Diamond Harbour to Lyttleton.

On Wednesday I walked to Diamond Harbour. I had decided overnight that rather than stay in Diamond Harbour I would catch the ferry to Lyttleton, book into a backpackers and use that as a base for the next few days. This had the advantage that I would be able to have my first shower for a few days. Catching the ferry was the easy part. On arrival in Lyttleton I found that due to the earthquakes there was no longer a backpackers in the town. In fact the only place to stay was a B&B at $160 a night. Alternatively I could walk another 3 km and camp beside a toilet which had a cold shower. A local who was at the i-site where I received this news also offered that I could use her shower the following morning. I was also informed that all roads and walking tracks out of Lyttleton were closed due to earthquake damage. The only exceptions were the Lyttleton Tunnel or a detour of many kms through Dyers Pass. Feeling hot, cranky and being fixated on a soft bed and a hot shower that night I finally decided that I would take a bus through the tunnel into Christchurch and book into a backpackers there. Before heading for the bus stop I stopped at the local wholefoods shop for a pie. The lady who served me saw my pack and asked where I was travelling too. Tracey then took in upon herself to find me accommodation in Lyttleton. The first two people she phoned were not home but then she spoke to regular customer Leith who was enthusiastic that I use her vacant earthquake damaged house in Heathcote just through the tunnel. Leith now lives in Lyttleton and walked home to get her car and then drove me through the tunnel to her Heathcote house. The back of the house has dropped but the front of the house is fully livable, the gas, power and water are all still connected AND the shower works! I stayed in Leiths house for 4 nights using it as a base.

On Thursday I caught the bus back through the tunnel and then the ferry to Diamond Harbour. The ferry operator had asked me about my walk the day before and this time declined to take a fare from me. I then walked the 25km back to Lyttleton via the coast. Rain threatened all day but apart from a couple of brief light showers there was no rain. Most of the walking was on the road but there were 3 coastal paths of about 9km in total. Fish and chips for dinner then the bus back through the tunnel.

The following day  walked to the Heathcote side of the tunnel and then walked down Bridle Path Rd and then along the coast through Redcliffs and on to Sumner. I then walked back to the house, a total of about 18km for the day.There is  much evidence of earthquake damage in Heathcote, Redcliffs and Sumner. While walking through Redcliffs I bought a pie and took it down to the seafront and sat at a BBQ type table to eat. Half a dozen seagulls gathered waiting for me to share. One was bolder than the others and stood on the table eyeing my pie. I asked him if he was fearless. A couple of minutes later he proved that he was, as I looked away at the scenery he sneaked up and actually took a bite of my pie! I was amazed at his nerve.

Saturday 20th October was my final days walking for 10 days or so. Walked 8km of road then 2km of supposedly closed (due to earthquake damage) track, although there were other people walking on it. The final 6km was up a hard sand beach to New Brighton Pier. Being in a city there was lots of activity on the beach, walkers, runners, dog walkers etc. At New Brigton there was also a kite festival as well as blowcarts and sand yachts. A band was playing, there were market stalls and everybody was having a good time.

On Sunday I packed up and took my pack to Karla & Troys where I was invited to join their family BBQ lunch. After lunch I exchanged my pack for the bag I had left there 6 weeks ago after our train trip form Hamilton. I then caught a bus to the Jailhouse backpackers and bright and early on Monday morning I flew back to Hamilton for a 10 day break. I will restart the walk about 3rd November from where I left off at New Brighton.

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