Three Days In Banks Peninsula - Britz

Two nights and 235 kilometres in a loop from Christchurch in a campervan, around Banks Peninsula, which works out at under eighty kilometres a day.

The peninsula is the eroded remains of two large volcanoes and its harbours are drowned craters, which is why the roads along the tops run so high above the water. The Summit Road follows the old crater rim with Lyttelton Harbour on one side and Akaroa on the other.

Akaroa is the destination, settled by a French company in 1840 shortly before British sovereignty was declared, and the street names have stayed French ever since. Hinewai Reserve above the town runs to some twelve hundred hectares, where gorse has been used deliberately as a nurse crop to bring native bush back, an approach that was argued about for years and has worked. Okains Bay on the far side has a beach, a campsite and a small museum with an outstanding Maori collection for a village of its size.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Three days makes this a long weekend rather than a trip, and Akaroa is only ninety minutes from Christchurch, so the driving is minimal. The Summit Road is narrow, winding and steep in places, which is worth knowing in a long vehicle, and the inland route to Akaroa is the easier of the two. Harbour cruises go out for Hector’s dolphins, the smallest marine dolphin anywhere and resident in the harbour, though no sighting can be promised.