Our longer pieces about the harbour, newest first. New stories are added every week or two.
The port
Lyttelton was founded as a port and it has never stopped being one. Cranes, coal trains, container ships and cruise liners are all part of the view, and part of the town's character.
History
The February 2011 earthquake was centred under the hills right beside Lyttelton. Fifteen years on, the town's shape still tells the story of what was lost and how it came back.
History
Walk any of the steep streets above the port and you pass houses built within a generation of the first ships. Here is how to read them, why so many survived, and what owners of an old harbour cottage need to watch for.
History
For more than half a century a ball dropping down a mast above Lyttelton told every ship in the harbour the exact time. The earthquakes knocked the tower down; a careful rebuild brought it back.
Visitor guide
The island in the middle of the harbour has been a mahinga kai, a farm, a quarantine station, a leprosy colony and a training ground for Antarctic dogs. Today it is a pest-free reserve and one of the best family days out from Christchurch.
Visitor guide
Whakaraupō is ringed by tracks, from flat waterfront strolls to a full day on the highest point of Banks Peninsula. These are the walks we keep coming back to, with the weather and fire-season notes that matter.
Visitor guide
Lyttelton sits on the far side of the Port Hills from Christchurch, which makes arriving half the fun. Here is how the town is reached today, and how the first settlers did it.