Boating on the Avon in Christchurch
May 14th 2010 05:31
In the city that is more English than England, cruising down the Avon River, through the leafy acres of Hagley Park, is a must for any visitor.
While an Edwardian punt with a boater-hatted, waistcoated oarsman might be to our middle-aged taste, an Indian canoe, the management suggests, is more appropriate to a pair of braves like our travelling companions, 7 year-old Matthew and 9 year old Otis.
We set off uncertainly upstream, a motley crew with mis-matched strokes. My inner Apache, dormant since the Saturday afternoon westerns at Rotorua’s Majestic Picture Theatre, reawakens and I hurl a war cry at a passing punt. “How!” replies the punter, raising an arm in salute and spinning his craft dangerously towards us. G’s latent pirate comes to the rescue “Heave ho, me hearties!” he exhorts the baffled lads. Still, they paddle wildly, tossing up great fans of water on both sides and we lurch out of harm's way
In the end, we’re a tribe, all paddling in the same direction, all speaking the same language. “Ship ahoy!” we shout to other river-folk! “Ahoy, land lubbers!” we call to watchers on the bank. “Ahoy there!” most of them shout back.
Looking downstream on the Avon
While an Edwardian punt with a boater-hatted, waistcoated oarsman might be to our middle-aged taste, an Indian canoe, the management suggests, is more appropriate to a pair of braves like our travelling companions, 7 year-old Matthew and 9 year old Otis.
We set off uncertainly upstream, a motley crew with mis-matched strokes. My inner Apache, dormant since the Saturday afternoon westerns at Rotorua’s Majestic Picture Theatre, reawakens and I hurl a war cry at a passing punt. “How!” replies the punter, raising an arm in salute and spinning his craft dangerously towards us. G’s latent pirate comes to the rescue “Heave ho, me hearties!” he exhorts the baffled lads. Still, they paddle wildly, tossing up great fans of water on both sides and we lurch out of harm's way
In the end, we’re a tribe, all paddling in the same direction, all speaking the same language. “Ship ahoy!” we shout to other river-folk! “Ahoy, land lubbers!” we call to watchers on the bank. “Ahoy there!” most of them shout back.
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