The Port Hills and Lyttelton...

After our walk around Christchurch, we headed off to the Port Hills and Lyttelton Harbour which is still classed as part of Christchurch. The roads are quite twisty as they wind their way over hills. There are no barriers on the sides of these roads  and in places you are a long way up! gulp!! But the scenery is wonderful!

Before the road started climbing we drove along the waterfront and noticed the houses clinging on to the cliffs...the house in the photo below had its own funicular! The garage is at road level in the foreground...

Just past those houses we noticed all the shipping containers lining the road...to prevent rock falls on to the road. The lined road went for about a kilometre.

 This section the containers are only single layer...

The road then climbed but eventually we came to a road closure. Luckily there was a lay by lookout, so we pulled up there. There was an older man (older than us!! lol) enjoying the view when we got there. We exchanged greeting and then he got into his beautifully restored car...

Mary and I enjoying the view of the estuary..

Because the road was closed we had to find another way to Lyttelton, so as we drove down the range, we saw this view of Christchurch...

On another stop we had this view...

Being from the subtropics, I don't see these very often...

Those pinecones were on a tree in this stand...magnificent aren't they?

DH taking some video footage...

 
Here we are in Lyttelton Harbour...

Looking toward the harbour facilities...

Lyttelton also suffered in the earthquake but we just took this one photo...

 We had a good wander around this locality and had a lovely lunch in one of the cafes. It was only 2pm so it was decided to then try and find the Christchurch Arts Centre...but that's another story...