Arrived in Christchurch and we’re met by James. We went for lunch at a Phiilipino cafe  then James  dropped us at our accommodation at Jan and Marcus’s in Riccarton.This was a 100 year old renovated house  which was comfortable with a great yard and lots of charm.  Jan was a great source of tourist information as well as cooking a great breakfast each morning.  In the afternoon James and I went and rode at the tracks at Bottle Lake Forrest,  which had some nice easy tracks to ride after the long flight.  Link to Track->

The following day we spent our time walking through Hagley park to the City centre and along the Avon, through the botanical gardens and finally had lunch at the noodle festival.

James took me on the local tracks in the Port Hills starting from where he was living.  The access was a very steep fire trail which was unrideable in parts.  The views of Lyttleton were superb. We went down the ‘flying nun’. Steep rock lined berms however are not my thing and the only place I was flying was upside down into the bush after jamming my wheels on a rock.  We exited the flying nun and climbed back up the top and our new access track to the top of the adventure park was via an apparently aptly named track called ‘body bag’! The way down at least was the green tracks of the adventure park which were far more manageable and enjoyable. Within 24 hours no-one would be riding these trails.  Track->