Blogs from Akaroa, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

We woke up to bright sunshine and after yummy scrambled eggs a la Mrs C we made our way to the jetty and Black Cat Cruises, stopping for NZ coffee on the way. The catamaran took us out through the harbour along the inlet that Akaroa is situated in. Almost at once we saw Dolphins. These are Hector's Dolphins, really small and then we saw a mother and calf so cute. They played around the boat and liked to ride in the bow wave, we must have seen over 30 Dolphins swimming around the boat and up and down the inlet. Then we saw small blue Penguins just a couple swimming and then seals also swimming and some resting on the rocks. There were some baby Shags being fed by their mum and cormorants flying about. ... read more

1st of December is officially the first day of summer in New Zealand. Was awoken by a very loud siren going off, bit concerned as to what is was to start off but when I asked a local when I heard a similar s iren a couple of weeks ago she said it was to call in fire brigade volunteers. Late getting away from campsite this morning originally planned to find a walk but to be fair it took about 30 mins to get to the information centre in Akaroa so did not get around to doing another walk. Akaroa was settled by the French so all the road names are in French. I spent the afternon on a boat but I forgot to put sunscreen on so my face is a bit red now. Saw ... read more

Had a fanastic drive through Arthur's Pass yesterday from west coast to east coast of the South Island As usual the drive was not for the faint hearted, it included going over a bridge one vehicle wide with a railway line running down the middle, a rock shelter built over the road to prevent vehicles being hit by falling rocks, a waterfall diverted to avoid the road. The road was so steep at one point even with my foot to floor only just managed 35km/hr. Almost forgot road was so high up my ears popped whilst I was driving. I had planned to do a walk at Aurthur's Pass Village but was put off by the fact that local info centre hired out location beaons. Thought I would be out of depth, but asked if there ... read more

Final day in Christchurch today and I'm going to be sad to leave. Why? Because I've had such a lovely time with Ed and Mimi and because I can see that Christchurch is a beautiful place, despite the destruction. Once again I've been treated like royalty and it has been fantastic to catch up with them after such a long time. As a final day treat, we're off to Akaroa today, all six of us, in the beast that is Ed's 4x4. Akaroa is about an hour away from Christchurch and is a lovely little inlet town, surrounded by hills, and with a heavy French heritage. The drive to Akaroa was beautiful in itself, sweeping through the fields and hills, with the odd sheep thrown into the middle of the road to make the drive all ... read more

I went through the "Akaroa vs Kaikoura" dillemma. Both are famous for a cruise day trip out of Christchurch. After I accept the fact that I'm prone to sea sick, I ruled out whale watching in Kaikoura. And without the whale factor, plus looked at how pretty Banks Peninsula looks like, Akaroa won me over. Went with Akaroa French shuttle (45 NZD return) which was superb and I found it value for money. Lots of scenic point stops, which is just my cup of tea since I'm a photography buff. The stop at Hill Top was too short & I couldn’t take picture perfect of the Banks Peninsula as the clouds hang so low. Gary, the driver – kindly invited me to jump to the front seat – right besides the driver so I can take ... read more

Auch Wetter-Kiwi's können sich irren. Von der Sonne wachgeküsst, entschlossen wir uns an diesem herrlichen Tag, auf Tierschau zu gehen. Wir buchten eine Bootstour die uns zu Delphinen, Pinguinen, Robben und verschiedensten Seevögeln bringen sollte. Vor der Tour unternahmen wir noch eine kleine Wanderung zu einem Monument. Von hier aus konnte man den Hafen und die Bucht schön überblicken. Am frühen Nachmittag stachen wir dann in See. Wegen des schlechten Wetters der letzten Tage war die See noch sehr aufgewühlt. Die Wellen waren mit 4-5 Meter nicht zu unterschätzen. An den Lava-Klippen vorbei ging's bis ans Ende der Bucht. Hier tummeln sich normalerweise die kleinsten und nur in Neuseeland vorkommenden Hector-Delphine. Wegen der hohen Wellen und aufgerauten See, konnten wir aber nur ein paar kurze Blicke auf die Delphine erhaschen. Die Robben ließen es deutlich ruhiger ... read more

Morgens fuhren wir zum Mt. John Observatorium auf 1.031 Meter. Dort unternahmen wir bei – 10° (gefühlt -20°!!!) eine schöne Winterwanderung mit toller Aussicht auf den Lake Tekapo. Von hier oben konnten wir auch schon die bekannte Church of Good Shephard erkennen. Da diese Kirche eines der 101 Must have to do in Neuseeland ist, konnten auch wir uns dem Anblick nicht entziehen. Die Kirche wurde komplett aus Steinen der Umgebung errichtet und hat bis heute seine Ursprünglichkeit nicht verloren. Der Altar wurde mit Blick auf den Lake Tekapo errichtet. Danach machten wir uns auf die lange Fahrt nach Christchurch. Lauter unseren Reiseführern ist Christchurch eine sehr schöne Stadt, mit vielen alten Gebäuden. Jedoch durch die Erdbeben Anfang des Jahres wurde ein Großteil der Innenstadt und somit auch der Sehenswürdigkeiten komplett zerstört. Da die Stadt einer ... read more