After a long lie in, Alex, Will and I discussed options. The day was due to be punctuated by trips to the beautician (Danda, not us) and to the barbers, which limited our travelling options. Unfortunately, the two-woman barbershop in Redcliff was unable to handle more than one person at a time, which meant that Will had his haircut at 12.30pm and mine was at 4.30pm.
Our best option was the Christchurch Gondola, located in Heathcote valley. The guidebook promised “
spectacular panoramic 360-degree views, which include Christchurch city, Lyttelton Harbour, Banks Peninsula, Canterbury Plains and the distant peaks of the Southern Alps”. Unfortunately they hadn’t catered for the rain. Despite this, the views were pretty impressive…
The 945 metre Gondola ride gently lifts visitors, in the comfort of 4 person passenger cabins, almost 500 metres (1500 feet) above sea level. Unique 360 degree views of Christchurch, the Canterbury Plains and Lyttelton Harbour unfold as you rise to the summit complex, on the crater rim of Christchurch’s famous extinct volcano.
This was Will’s second trip in a Gondola (the first was in Singapore to Sentosa), so he was an old hat.
The highlight of the trip for Will was a visit to the new Time Travel experience – a brief walkthrough of the history of Christchurch, courtesy of some CGI and an odd-looking young female presenter. The animated ride explained how the South island was formed by volcanic activity (much of the evidence for this is visible in the surrounding exposed rock structure). The absence of predators made the land almost paradisical
and when the first Maori settlers arrived in dug out canoes, they named the land ‘the great storehouse’ due to the abundance of natural food.
Once Dave and Han got back from work, we took the dogs for a long walk along the beach in Sumner and settled in to watch Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Will’s choice) and Die Hard 4.0 (my choice). Don’t panic, Ant. I sent Will to bed before Die Hard…