Banks Peninsula is a beautiful, unspoilt region with
a stunning coastline and is chock full of mountains and wildlife.
Many moons ago the peninsula was an island, but erosion from the
Southern Alps gradually led to it joining the mainland.
The two harbours of Akaroa and Lyttelton are craters of a once majestic volcano that dominated the island. Captain Cook named
the peninsula in 1770 after the famous botanist Sir Joseph Banks.
BANKS PENINSULA