Honestly, we really did have a snow storm that cancelled my flight.

Honest, we did.  Yesterday the roads were horrible to drive on -- although not as bad as the side walks for walking. Today was absolutely lovely and ended up about 12 or 13 degrees with warm winds of a Nor' Wester.  After lunch Sue and I drove out to Sumner to walk on the beach and enjoy the sun and the warm wind.  A bit less wind and the jackets would have been off.  The first thing on my right ans we climbed down to the Sumner beach was an example of the flowering bush that lines this part of the beach.
I have hunted allthough the internet looking for its name and can't find it.  It looks to be part of the Hebe family, but it appears to be much bigger than in most of the pictures on the net.  It certainly didn't seem to be particularly bothered by the snow, rain, hail and sleet that had fallen only a couple of days before.

the cliff above shows the extent of some of the earthquake damage.  I imagine that most of the houses above are now part of the red zone and slated for demolition. This time last year it was highly desirable Real Estate with an amazing view of the South Pacific.  At the bottom of the picture are the double stacked Sea Crates at the base of the cliff to offer some protection to the traffic from tumbling rubble.

Shag Rock used to be a 8m rock formation at the entrance to the Christchurch estuary. During the February earthquake it collapsed to nearly half its original height. Locals initially renamed it Shagged Rock, but popular opinion seems to have settled on Shag Pile as its new name. Sue and I came up with Shag Rubble.
I imagine that it was named for the New Zealand Cormorant, the Shag.  Apparently there is a breeding colony (known as shaggerie) nearby of these now- protected birds.

Finally we stopped Afghan cookies (from the Darfield Bakery) and tea.  We were parched and starved having had Vietnamese Food a scant three hours previous.  It was most necessary to eat in order to keep up our strengh for dinner.  Sue took a great deal of time to set up the perfect shot of the two of us on the last outing of this trip (Air New Zealand willing).  I, who wanted to get back to the bench while the tea was still hot, had a cheerful New Zealand lady take our picture.