...........................Piece of Paradise.........................

Busy week, work, winter weather, whiny weenagers.....we..worn out. Then it was Sunday, sunny, clear sky. We get in the car up to Dyers Pass, a road leading us into the Port Hills. The Port Hills are a range of Hills on the banks Peninsula surrounding Christchurch on one side. On the top of Coronation Hill we park the car at the Sign of the Kiwi, a tearoom and former resthouse, which was build in 1917. From here we have a great view on Christchurch and the Canterbury plains (flat land) with on the background the snowcovered peaks of the Southern Alps. We are going to walk a part of the Crater Rim track and follow the path besides the Sign of the Kiwi, from where you can see the other side of the hil. We have to keep our eyes however on the small stony, and today muddy and icy path. When we look up we can oversee a slice of paradise. We are here on the rim (outer edge) of a crater of an extinct vulcano. Raising sealevels covered the crater with a deepblue satin sheet which formed Lyttelton Harbour. In the middle of it is Quail Island, were once a leper colony was situated. In summer we sometimes pack a picnic lunch, hop on the boat in Lyttelton and spent the day in this gorgeous place.
It is busy on the track and everybody seems to be in a good mood. We walk back over the summit Road and have a nice coffee at The Sign of the Kiwi. If one coffee isn't enough we follow this up with a coffee and a chat at our friends place. The cosy atmosphere is completed with some cheese and wine and happy as Larry we are heading home. A home close to paradise.

Cheers Marja