Saturday 30th October: We met with my Auntie Anne’s sister, Irene today for coffee. We had not met Irene before but had heard much about her from my Dad. We got on fine and time went too quickly as always; we had a firm deadline as we were booked to go to Lyttelton (on the Banks Peninsula) for a harbour cruise followed by a Gondola ride. After a walk, much chatting and a coffee we went for our shuttle bus from Cathedral Square. By this time the sun had come out and it looked like our decision to delay this trip from the previous day (cloudy and damp) had been the right one.
It was a 15 minute bus ride to the harbour where we boarded a small catamaran for our harbour tour. The main objective was to spot some of the very rare Hector dolphins and we were blessed with our first sighting as we emerged from the inner harbour; we then had regular sightings throughout the trip, as well as spotting other wildlife and learning something of the geography and history of the area. Lyttelton is where the first settlers arrived, with the first ship in being the Charlotte Jane (cross reference to earlier post re where we are staying!). We stayed on the upper deck throughout the tour, though this was rather bracing at times and one of us was showing signs of having caught some sun by the time we returned two hours later! 
On from here we had a short ride to the Gondola which takes you high above the town and gives spectacular panoramic views. Visibility was good, though the brisk breeze was not conducive to staying outside for too long. We returned from the Gondola on the local bus which gave us sights of a few more of the suburbs of Christchurch.
Sunday again dawned clear and showed promise of a good day. We were already booked on the Transalpine Railway journey; 4.5hrs through the Southern Alps from Christchurch to Greymouth. This journey is really quite something, climbing to Arthurs Pass at 737m above sea level (where it was really quite chilly!) and then dropping down through the 8km Otira tunnel and back to (almost) sea level at Greymouth. We had an hour for lunch before reversing the trip and seeing the views from the other direction. With snow still on some of the mountain tops and ice fed rivers the scenery really was quite something.
A shuttle bus home from the station saw us back in time to do most of the packing before dinner as tomorrow we pick up the campervan which will be our home for the next six weeks as we tour the two islands. It may be a while before the next posting as we will be reliant on getting an internet connection somewhere convenient!
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