Like Cheddar Gorge on steroids!

 Rosie took me to a fabulous street market yesterday - I can't remember who mentioned it in comments but Good Call!!  We went to Lyttleton harbour. Lots to watch just down there on the water, but I loved the older properties there.  I have been taking some photos with my phone camera and can share them straight away, but many others are with my main camera so I will show those when back home.

Of course not many of you will be familiar with Cheddar Gorge, so you will have to Google it, but it does bear more than a passing resemblance to this beautiful area.

The street market was very vibrant and had many artisan stalls selling quality cakes, breads and baked goods and some wonderful fresh fruit and veg, cheeses, clothing, hand crafted items. A great atmosphere thanks to the buskers.

From one stall, I bought us a little treat - chocolate berry brownie on the left (mine) and gingerbread with pistachio (Rosie's).

 

The Timeball Station. Just the tower of the original Victorian buildings remains following the destruction wrought by the 2019/11 earthquakes.  This was beautifully restored and re-opened in 2019. It served the ships who used the harbour and the ball drops at 1 p.m. precisely, allowing navigators to set their chronometers and calculate longitude.

I hope you can read the details about Shackleton's and Captain Scott's Antarctic expeditions which set off from this small harbour. Quail Island was used to quarantine and train the ponies and dogs used on the early days of Antarctic exploration. What a piece of history. It was also a former Leper colony and where people with infectious diseases were treated and contained.

We went inside the little cabin belonging to a carpenter John Grubb, from Fifeshire, pretty much in its original condition.  Photos mostly on camera but here is one room.

Quail Island from Cass Bay, where we sat and ate our sandwiches.

A really lovely day out, rounded by heavy rain, a great display of thunder and lightning and even hail in places.