Amberley and Christchurch

It was with great reluctance that we left Kaikoura to head south towards Christchurch. We were due to meet up with my cousin Sharon, and her husband Chris, on Wednesday, so we decided to stay in Amberley on Tuesday.

Amberley Beach is a short drive out from the town centre, and even though we had been there before, we decided to go again. Time has not been kind to this area. Firstly, it is evident that erosion has been a significant problem. We could see where huge shingle barriers had been built to try and keep the sea at bay. The beach is steep shingle so not easy to walk on. It didn’t take us long to decide to walk along the sea wall instead.

The other thing we noticed was the very poor standard of housing, including some living fulltime in their vehicles in the camp ground. We did not feel comfortable being out of sight of the motorhome.

We drove out to the golf course, and it looked like the sea had washed part of this access road away, and what was a narrow tar sealed road is not a very rough shingle stop bank. Here there is a bit of an estuary which has a pleasant walk around it, and we did a bit of that before driving back into town.

We decided to stay at a Park over Property for the night called Hannah’s Haven and it was charming.

The property is not far back from the main road, but you wouldn’t know it – it was very quiet. The man who owns it was a civil engineer who came to the area to work after the earthquake. It was supposed to be a temporary move but became permanent. His wife is a keen gardener and told me that they have a little micro-climate there. They are usually 2-3 degrees warmer than Christchurch, and see only 3-4 frosts a year. Her roses are still blooming when she goes to prune them in July.

The next day we headed into Christchurch. We had a bit of running around to do before heading to Sharon’s, and we did what we could before driving in Sharon’s gate – which requires precision driving!. Uncle Ron also came to dinner and it was nice to see him again too. Unfortunately, his memory isn’t improving, but he is still managing to live at home on his own, and he is pleasant company. On both nights, Sharon and Chris presented us with gourmet meals and their hospitality is boundless.

I spent the next day working from the motorhome, taking advantage of their broadband. I seem to have acquired an email marketing job which still needs to be plugged away at while we are away.

Friday was our last day in Christchurch, and we navigated the city centre to go to Ravenscar House and gallery, as recommended by my friend Jenny. The huge house was built from rubble from the previous house which had to be destroyed after the earthquake. There are a lot of original artworks and antiquities in the house including 3 Goldy paintings, several Frances Hodgkins and several Colin McCahon, and a couple from Rita Angus – all pioneer artists of New Zealand. Bruce, being the lovely man that he is, commented that my art was better than many of the paintings we saw!

We spent one more night in Christchurch before heading in the direction of Arthur’s Pass.