Akaroa

So we happily headed out of Christchurch and on to the small fishing village of Akaroa (population just over 600). Akaroa was founded by the French and maintains some of the culture – street names starting with rue and the only grocery sells baguettes). It’s located on the Banks Peninsula (named after the botanist that sailed on James Cook’s first voyage – for a good read about this, try Blue Latitude by Tony Horwitz). Leaving Christchurch we headed east and up until the last 20kms we drove on flat roads, then we went up and over the hills we’d been skirting for the previous 30kms. We arrived on a cloudy day but the views were still outstanding. From the top we looked down on the bay and the speckle of small towns that surrounded it.

We had a nice hotel room, much much better than CC - second story with an actual view of the water and enough space for a couple beds, sofa, chair, plus room to walk. We quickly settled in then headed out to check out the town. We ended up at a small shop run by a 7th Day Adventist (no idea what this is but, then again, you know my policy on religion – maybe you don’t but it is so controversial, I’ll keep it out of this blog). The only thing they had going for them was that they sold merino wool products – we love this stuff. We bought a few things then strolled to the boat dock and along the beach. Nothing like a small little town to get some piece and quiet. We did see one boy racer car but never heard it racing – I guess with only one, they have to go out of town to race someone. That night we had take away fish & chips – greasy but excellent.

The next day we decided to take a hike up into the hills. This would take us through open pasture and should offer great views of the bay and town. I’ve included a few pictures. This ended up being about a 2.5 hour hike and we made it back right before the rain began. We headed to a small deli for lunch – I had an awesome fish dish and Angela had an omelet. Nothing like a meal with fresh vegetables and fish. I then hit up the fresh fudge store for dessert – mocha and baileys Irish crème. More walking about town before the weather turned really cold and we headed indoors.

I’ll leave the rest of the story to the pictures.

view as we dropped down into Akaroa

One of 2 churches in town.

example of a house in town - most places are like this colorful little cottage.

Fire & Ice - not even sure what they sell here, i just liked the look of the building.

Path heading up to our hike - this was a hike in itself. It may not look it but this must have been about a 15% grade.

Views of Akaroa from our hike

mum and baby.

More steeps, we turned to the right about 1/2 way up.

Don's lunch - fresh fish fillets on a salad - yum.