Driving from Purau to Diamond Harbour on the Banks Peninsula | Canterbury | New Zealand | 4K

Categories: Canterbury Region

Tags: canterbury, diamond harbour, driving, new zealand, purau

Added: 2 years ago

Driving from Purau to Diamond Harbour on the Banks Peninsula, in the Canterbury region on the East Coast of New Zealand's South Island.

Purau is a township at the head of Purau Bay, 2 km south-east of Diamond Harbour. In 1853–55 Robert Rhodes, from a notable early Canterbury family, built a substantial stone homestead, which still stands. The bay is a popular picnic and camping spot.The Purau area has a long history of Maori settlement, with a number of old burial sites found in the nearby area. Purau itself is located among the volcanoes of the Banks Peninsula, a short drive away from Christchurch. Part of the Lyttelton Harbour waterfront, the bay waters can be relatively gentle for swimming or boating.

Diamond Harbour is on the sunny south side of Lyttelton Harbour and is the fastest-growing community on Banks Peninsula. Its population and that of Charteris Bay and Purau grew from 879 in 1991 to 1,467 in 2013. Still standing are the original cottage and later homestead of Mark Stoddart, the early settler who named the bay for the glint of sunlight on water.

Banks Peninsula is a mass of volcanic hills, covering an area of 1,165 sq km, that sticks out from the Canterbury coast between Pegasus Bay and the Canterbury Bight. The highest point, Mt Herbert (Te Ahu Patiki) is 920m and overlooks Lyttelton Harbour. It is less than half the height of the volcanoes before they became extinct.