Canterbury Leisure Tours

Canterbury Leisure Tours

On Sunday, March 6, the APT group was en route from Blenheim to Christchurch. The trip included a stop in Kaikoura where we offered an opportunity to go whale watching.

Those of us that chose to go on the optional side trip were picked up by Canterbury Leisure Tours and escorted to the Whale Watch ticket office. Later, it took us on to our hotel in Christchurch to meet back up with our own tour group.

Overall, the whale watching adventure was exciting and memorable. Also to be commended was our Canterbury Leisure Tours coach driver who was always professional and courteous. However, there is not much good to be spoken of the coach. It was poorly maintained inside and out. Notwithstanding the tattered curtains and uncomfortable seats on the inside, the coach additionally struggled to make the distance back to Christchurch.

The photo above depicts a memorable moment as the driver cautions passengers to stay away from the road. The bus actually stalled and could not be restarted on a dangerous mountain curve. Fellow passengers reported that they earlier heard the driver call his employer on his cell phone and threaten to quit.

To Canterbury Leisure Tours' credit, they did send another coach as a back-up, but our coach did start up again after it cooled off and we made it back to Christchurch without much more ado.