The Bridle Path

"When you are on the hills now (1885), you see a great plain all around you, with trees and houses and gardens and fields, all looking so beautiful. Then (1853) it was all one vast open plain, without a road or fence or house or garden or tree ... The plains were covered with tussock grass and fern on high ground, and flax and raupo in wet and boggy place..." Jane Deans

Interesting day today, I went (for the first time) on a school trip with Adam. Up the Gondola, down the bridle path, and then into Canterbury Museum.

They have been studying the first four ships and the early settlers to Christchurch. I learnt a lot!

Left England September 7 1850, arrived Lyttleton on Dec 16, 4 ships of around 150+ people. 3 months later and many deaths they arrived and found it wasn't quite the promised land. But probably better than what they had. The ships were, The Charlotte Jane, The Randolph, The Sir George Seymour and the Cressy.

Needless to say, 160 years later they would be hard pressed to imagine what it was like now, and they would probably also be wondering why the swamp was built on. As are many others post-earthquake ...

More good reading at The First Four Ships