We should have toured the top end of North Island over Christmas and New Year 2018-19, but we had to cancel. Fourteen months later, I was beyond excited at the prospect of exploring South Island for 17 days. The last time we were in Christchurch there were earth tremors! On this occasion we descended through heavy cloud, but it mattered not. We were back, in a country I like.

Banks Peninsula is a curiously circular, heavily indented appendage to South Island’s east coast, southeast of Christchurch. It was formed by two enormous volcanic eruptions more than six million years ago, during the Miocene. As he sailed by in 1770, James Cook thought it was an island: he named it after his on-board naturalist, Joseph Banks. It does feel slightly separate from the rest of South Island, and to get to Akaroa, the pretty main town on the largest inlet, you have to wend your way along a tortuous road up and down the ‘mountains’ formed during the eruptions.

In the 19th century there was a tussle between the Brits and the French for settlement rights, and Akaroa (‘long harbour’ in Māori) has both English and French districts. We stayed there a couple of nights, and our dining experiences benefitted from the town’s French heritage. On the first evening we ate at Le Petit Bistrot on Rue Lavaud; on the second at Ma Maison on Rue Jolie. And yes, I’m one of those irritating people who photographs her food at the dining table if it’s pretty/delicious enough.

Akaroa is less than 100 km from Christchurch. Cloud and drizzle meant we stopped less frequently than we would normally. I kept thinking: when we come back this way in two day’s time, it might be sunny. And it was.

Our waterfront room in Akaroa had a view reminiscent of a Scottish loch; and the weather was appositely grey. It was a calming outlook, but a photographer cannot rest for long.

The bed was in a small alcove, facing out over the water, making it hard to get up next morning, which was pretty in pink. We had a lot to do, however, in a short space of time. Breakfast; a wander round town; coffee; some present shopping; then off to see a big tree in Montgomery Park Scenic Reserve, the bays and Summit Road, which follows the edge of the volcanic crater.

Drive back along the Akaroa Highway towards Christchurch as far as Hilltop and turn right on to Summit Road. In about 500 metres there’s a small area to park on the left, on the roadside. Giant Tōtara Walk is not immediately obvious – there wasn’t a sign, just a gap in the bush. Walk for a few minutes until you find yourself in front of a massive trunk, 8.5 metres in circumference. This tree may be 2000 years old. In Māori the tōtara is described as ‘rakau rangatira’, a ‘chiefly tree’, reflecting its status as a giant of the forest canopy and the first to greet the sun. (Read more here.) Photographing a tall tree is always a challenge: I couldn’t stand far enough back, and the ground was sloping and uneven. This tōtara forks on its way to the sky: I couldn’t do justice to the top half either.

A fantail was becoming increasingly irritated by our presence as I searched for suitable vantage points. It uses its ostentatious tail feathers to steer as it ducks and dives chasing insects – and seeing off intruders. Its alarm calls did their job: we felt obliged to move on.

The track carries on up through the forest. We walked on although we didn’t have time to walk to the top of Rocky Peak (2 hours return). There’s a lookout a few minutes further on.

Carrying on along Summit Road, take the turning for Pigeon Bay, which is delightful, from its boat sheds to the spectacular views from the walkway. Don’t visit from July to September, however, when the path, which crosses private land, is closed for lambing. The grassy track starts at the end of Wharf Road and is 14 km to Wakaroa Point (5 hours return). We’d have loved to have taken all day over it, but there was more of Banks Peninsula to see.

Back on Summit Road, there were striking views as we headed east.

Akaroa town is lovely, but an unexpected visitor slunk into the harbour the following morning. Good timing on our part: thank the gods we were leaving.

I loath cruise ships: their pollution; their disproportionate size; their festering outbreaks. Later on during this trip, we started to read about panic buying back in Melbourne amid fears of coronavirus. Another two and a half weeks on and we only just got back before border restrictions. Anyone returning from abroad with symptoms (I sat next to a snuffly man on the plane who shared his cold) had to be tested (mine was negative). Soon plague ships were incubating the virus nicely. I’d never realised there were so many of them at sea. I hope none are still blighting Akaroa.

This time we really were heading towards Christchurch, before turning left when we hit State Highway 1. Banks Peninsula had to finish on a positive, namely Birdlings Flat and Kaitorete Spit, where the Christchurch-Akaroa Road turns a right angle beyond Lake Forsyth.

Kaitorete Spit is believed to be about 6,000 years old. It is made up of gravels deposited in Canterbury Bight by the Rakaia River, 50 kilometres south of Christchurch. The sediments are carried northeast by currents and build the Spit along its eastern edge: it is at least 3 kilometres wide at its eastern end, but little more than 100 metres in the west. Low annual rainfall makes Kaitorete a desolate place – dry and windy, and more than 40˚C in the summer. From Birdlings Flat you can look back along the Peninsula’s south coast.

It was tempting to drive down the Spit into diminishing nothingness, but we had a lunch date several hours away. The colour of the ocean was extraordinary. I have a dear friend who is the biggest turquoise fan: I thought of her many times during our New Zealand trip.