Alex Hallatt 7/17/20 Alex Hallatt 7/17/20

Living in New Zealand: The British Hotel, Lyttelton

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The British Hotel has a colourful history and I bet I don't know the half of it. Currently it is a great little bar, popular with locals, serving a small menu of good food.

But the fire is rubbish.

Alex Hallatt 7/15/20 Alex Hallatt 7/15/20

Living in New Zealand: Super, Lyttelton

A mish-mash of a building on Norwich Quay in Lyttelton (Click to see options for using the image)

Near the head of Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupo, lies the small settlement of Governors Bay. We use to walk our dogs down by the shoreline and I loved walking to the end of the ridiculously long jetty. But that was a long time ago and the jetty has seen better days. It was falling into disrepair even before the earthquake of 2011, but that finished it off.

Alex Hallatt 6/23/20 Alex Hallatt 6/23/20

Living in New Zealand: More of My Favourite Bars on London Street (and What I Miss)

Eruption Brewing (Click to see options for using the image)

We are lucky (despite some idiotic actions recently concerning border control and quarantine) that New Zealand is at Level 1. This means all the bars are open normally and Lyttelton has come back to life.

We still miss Billie, but we get our dose of dog going into most of the bars in Lyttelton.

London Street has come back to life apart from those lots that are still empty all these years after the earthquake.

Addendum

I was in Facebook today (6th July), deleting more of my personal photos (a long process) and came across some from 2011. The boyf and I visited Lyttelton a month after the earthquake and his old restaurant (London Street) and Number 6 were still standing. Only just.

Alex Hallatt 2/21/20 Alex Hallatt 2/21/20

Living in New Zealand: Wild Swimming Safely Is Hard When There Are Idiots on Jet Skis

In the summer I usually swim loads in Lyttelton Harbour. But it has been an odd summer with too many cool, windy days and the Lyttelton Port Company have been dredging the inner harbour through January and February, our prime swimming months. Plus I have been exceptionally busy in the garden sorting out my new studio. A lot of excuses! But I did swim a lot when I was on Quail Island as volunteer DOC warden. And it reminded me just how much I loathe jet-skis.

Jet-skis are an abomination and I wish they were only ever used by trained lifeguards (not by bevvied-up blokes and their 10 year old kids, neither of whom know the regulations.)