After a busy morning running errands we decided to take advantage of the sunny day to head out to the Banks Peninsula to explore one of the bays. We took the main highway towards Akaroa, which has great views over many of the bays in the peninsula, until we arrived at the Hinewai Nature Reserve.
Hinewai Nature Reserve is a private nature reserve that focuses on the protection and restoration of native vegetation. The trail descended very steeply through very dense almost tropical forests, and even included a ladder in one section!
After a few miles we left the forest and crossed some sheep filled pastures before arriving at the beach. Otanerito Bay is a beautiful private cove on the Pacific side of the Banks Peninsula.
The water in the bay was incredibly clear and we could see the sandy bottom from the shore. After the long hike down we were looking forward to having a nice swim and a snack.
We were not planning on the water being so cold! Even Eric will admit that it was very cold, but we did both manage to have a very quick swim before retreating to the beach to warm up in the sun.
We took a different trail back to the car which was just as steep as the trail down to the beach. We went through more of the forest and were surrounded by swarms of cicadas. The noise in the trees was incredible and it was quite disconcerting when we disturbed a group of them and they flew around us.
Eventually we left the trees behind and as we reached the upper slopes we had great views back down to the bay we had been swimming in.
We took the scenic route back to Christchurch and had some great views of the different bays on the Banks Penninsula along the way. Hopefully we will get out to explore some of those soon!