The Banks Peninsula is a great day trip from Christchurch. The scenery is beautiful, and it offered us a nice little introduction to New Zealand. The roads were not busy, so J could get used to driving on the other side of the road and car.
Neither of us anticipated feeling great after 34 hours of travel, but we landed in Christchurch and felt the fresh air and sunshine and felt like a million bucks. Friday evening was spent wandering around downtown, admiring street art, and getting to bed around 9 p.m. We got a great night’s sleep and were ready for our first full day.
Our Day Exploring the Banks Peninsula
We headed out in the morning toward the Banks Peninsula. It’s about an hour’s drive from Christchurch. It was a little rainy and the clouds were covering the hills a little, but that all cleared up quickly.
After a perfect coffee and breakfast stop in Little River, we took the Summit Road, which has the most epic views. We stopped and hiked at Otepatotu Scenic Reserve. The views after a short climb were amazing.
After our hike, we continued down Summit Road until we reached Akaroa. This town is right on the beautiful turquoise waters of the bay. The Main Street has lots of food options.
Another big attraction in this area is the Hector’s Dolphins, which are only found in New Zealand. You can take tours from Akaroa, but it wasn’t in the cards for us and our desire to keep expenses down. We did read all about them on this website if you’re interested.
We left Akaroa and headed up the hills and down the other side to Pigeon Bay. On this side of the peninsula, we found waterfront strolls with no other humans in sight. We took the dirt road from there to Port Levy, and I loved it.
I wouldn’t recommend doing it with a campervan, but for a little car, it was awesome. It was just hills of sheep and views that were better with each turn.
We returned to Christchurch around 5 and spent a good hour cruising the grocery store. Grocery stores in other countries are one of my favorite things to explore. After stocking up on some things to cook for ourselves, we went home to read, make dinner and watch some Game of Thrones. It was a great introduction to this magnificent country.
