"This looks like autumn, and it looks superb," I remember thinking whilst in Christchurch for three days recently (mid-May 2005). Although it was nearing the end of the season, the Garden City still turns on the autumn colours better than probably any other New Zealand centre of any size. Much of the vegetation in Wellington is green this time of the year, and it stays that way. But the many tree-lined streets in Christchurch are a blaze of colour and nearly-bare trees. [We won't discuss the large tab the City Council picks up each year for cleaning up acres of fallen leaves!]

At church on the Sunday morning, the visiting American speaker who had been based in India for several years thanked his Christchurch listeners for the display of "fall colors" their city had turned on for him. I could relate to what he was saying.

The photos below - apart from the last two - were taken on a rather long walk from the suburb of Burnside into the central city on a sunny mid-May morning, along Memorial Ave, Fendalton Road (including Mona Vale), Harper Ave (through "little Hagley Park"), and Park Terrace. They provide a small taste of Christchurch in the autumn.