Staying at Akaroa on Banks Peninsula for a few days last week provided us with a base for daily trips to the many bays that indent Banks Peninsula. We visited for the first time Le Bons Bay which is now one of my favourite places. It is beautiful and remote. A small settlement of houses are snugly contained close to a beach guarded by twin headlands that frame the Pacific Ocean to the east.
A small river to the south of the beach opens to the sea.
Quiet and tranquil on our visit, it would be interesting to see this beach when a winter storm comes rolling off the Pacific Ocean from the east.
Sand dunes and native grasses provide a buffer between the beach and the houses and farmland that lies to the west.
A stand of pines trees (which are not native to New Zealand) guard the southern end of the beach.
The small river that is open to the sea is flooded by salt water at high tide forming an inland estuary.
The housing is a mixture of smart looking new builds and older housing.
The ubiquitous southern penchant for planting thick shelter belts of
Macrocarpa trees indicates something about the peninsulas weather.
The attraction of these bays that girdle Banks peninsula is their beautiful rugged individual character which is preserved to a large extent by their relative remoteness from the big city of Christchurch which lies about 65 miles (100km) to the northwest.
This is a place to enjoy the easy solitude. We'll be back.
2 comments:
There is something so very special about the peninsular. It's roads deter the faint hearted. A bit like Northland used to be. I have so appreciated every minute of my life in Governors Bay. When one comes over the brow of Dyers Pass Rd and looks over the bay no matter how many times or what the weather it is truly awesome. Jackie
I agree one hundred per cent - a very special and unique place.
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