Harbour Excursions.

Lyttelton Harbour seems generally underrated as a pleasure resort. Most strangers are impressed by its beauty; but very few Christchurch people seem to go down there for pleasure, except to the New Year's Day Regatta, which is almost as well established an institution as “Show Day” with all old colonists. The harbour is sufficiently large and the coast line is sufficiently broken to offer a considerable variety of short sea trips. Diamond Harbour and Purau or Rhodes' Bay can be reached by launch from Lyttelton in half an hour. In fine weather the rocky beaches, the rugged tussock-clad hills, and the shaded creeks combine to form an ideal picnic resort. From Diamond Harbour any one who wants a rough but delightful tramp can take the old track known as the Purau line, which crosses the hills behind Mount Herbert and leads to Akaroa. From Purau a good, though steep, road leads over a high ridge to Port Levy; and on the way there are still some picturesque fragments of bush. These two bays are on the side of the harbour opposite to the town of Lyttelton. Near the head of the bay is Governor's Bay, which can also be reached by water from Lyttelton in half an hour. Her clumps of bush still grow down almost to the water's edge; though the bush in the valleys on either side of the Dyer's Pass Road, twenty-five years ago beautifully luxuriant, is now absolutely destroyed. Governor's Bay is a delightfully sheltered spot, and the high and rather glommy hills overhanging the peaceful blue water give it a singularly restful aspect. It is less than ten miles from Christchurch by the Dyer's Pass Road, and it is further connected by coach daily and by launch frequently, with Lyttelton. All these advantages have made it a favourite summer resort, and it is said to hold the New Zealand record for honeymoons. Very comfortable accommodation is to be found both at the hotel and at private boardinghouses.

Beyond the limits of Lyttelton Harbour there are several sea trips practicable, which as they can be covered within the day, may be regarded as harbour excursions. Just outside the East Head is Port Levy, to which launches or small steamers run several times a week. The trip lasts about three-quarters of an hour each way, and is generally free from any discomfort in the way of rough weather. There are beautiful gullies still holding bush at Port Levy, picturesque hills, and a very interesting Maori settlement. There is not public accommodation there, but the generosity and hospitality of the settlers more than supply this lack. The whole coast of Banks' Peninsula is broken up into deep bays running up among hills once thickly wooded and still beautiful even where axe and fire have done their devastating work. It is possible to get to Okain's Bay, Little Akaloa, and Pigeon Bay three times in the week, under ordinary circumstances returning on the same day. The trip to Le Bon's Bay and to Akaroa, the finest and most picturesque harbour in Canterbury, if not in New Zealand, takes three or four hours; so that the return is generally made on the following day. On Anniversary Day, the 16th of December, an annual regatta is held at Akaroa, an on that day hundreds of excursionists go by water from Lyttelton to Akaroa and return before night. Akaroa Harbour, apart from its extreme natural beauty, is surrounded by scenes of great romantic interest from their connection with the Maori and the European history of Canterbury.

To any one who knows Banks' Peninsula and the peculiar charm of its scenery, so utterly distinct from anything else in the province, it is always a matter for surprise that the inhabitants of Christchurch take so little interest in it, and that excursions do not run there more frequently. A voyage of an hour or two in calm water leaves one in most varied and picturesque scenery, and introduces one to a most interesting form of life absolutely unlike anything to be found on the Canterbury Plains. It is only lack of enterprise that has allowed the Peninsula to remain so long in obscurity; but as Christchurch grows, and its inhabitants demand more urgently changes of air and scene, these delightful trips will no longer be neglected, and Lyttelton Harbour and its surroundings will gain the high place and reputation that they deserve among the most picturesque of New Zealand seaside resorts.