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Published: December 19th 2013
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Sunday 15th December, 2013. Akaroa, Banks Peninsula, South Island, NZ - A Taste of France
As we had now got a tour and accommodation booked for tomorrow we decided that we could afford a lazy housekeeping day today. We did another load of laundry and then had breakfast. We decided that we would spend the day walking around the town, taking in the French feel and enjoying the good weather. However, before we started sightseeing we went and purchased some sunscreen and a pair of flip flops for M whose feet were too hot in her trainers. This is the first really hot weather we have had so far this trip.
The French flavour is really strong in Akaroa. The street names are the first thing that strike you. The main street, on which our hostel is located is called Rue Lavaud, other street names include Rue Jolie, Rue Viard, Rue Balguerie, Rue Benoit to name but a few. There are some that break the trend like Smith Street and Beach Road but the town has a totally different feel to anywhere else in NZ we have visited so far. We love it!
We strolled through the town
which appeared to have two distinct halves. 'Our' half which went up to the beach which was a bay. Then at the other end of the bay there was another 'centre'. Turns out that our bit was the French half and the other bit was the English half! This is being very simplistic for the purists.
We were lucky (or unlucky) enough to be in Akaroa when a Celebrity Cruise ship was in town (this is a cruise line not a ship full of celebrities). This meant that the town was absolutely buzzing and there were far more tourists than usual (about 3,000 more actually!). Everyone who's anyone in the town was out touting for business. The reason that we couldn't go on the sailing tour today was that it had been commandeered by the cruise ship. There was a Route Master London Bus offering tours of the Banks Peninsula. We had a chat to the driver who had brought the bus over from Christchurch for the day. The tour was not just available to the cruise passengers but it was the ship that had brought it here for the day.
There was also a guy offering tours
of Akaroa in his vintage car. He was dressed up in his chauffeur's outfit and cap and was driving waving cruise passengers around the town. He also had a mate who was doing a similar thing with a motorcycle and sidecar.
We paid our mandatory visit to the tourist office and then set off on a walk along the coast towards the lighthouse. On our way we turned off the coast road and entered The Garden of Tane. This is an area of the hillside that has been planted with both native and exotic trees from all over the world. There were some giant sequoia trees on the edge of the hill with a fantastic view over Akaroa harbour. We took some photo's and got chatting to a few Americans who were from the ship. They explained that it was a cruise from Sydney and then back to Sydney with a few stops in NZ, and one in Tazmania. It was no surprise to us to learn that most of the passengers were from Japan or China. We continued the pleasant stroll through the shady forest until we found a path down to rejoin the road.
From here
we continued our walk to the lighthouse. The Gardens of Tane were still above us high on the cliff. In fact some of the cliff looked various precarious with trees looking like they might fall into the road at any time. We reached the lighthouse which also had fantastic views over the harbour. The lighthouse is the original wooden one that warned sailors of the rocks off Akaroa Head. This is not its original location. When the NZ authorities decided to replace it they were simply going to bulldoze it into the sea. The local people set up The Akaroa Lifeboat Preservation Society and raised enough money to buy and relocate it. It was moved on 4th October 1980. It is a very good example of a lighthouse structure of its time. It first shone in 1880. The light is 270 feet above sea level and the tower is 28 feet high. The white light flashes once every 10 seconds and can be seen 23 miles away on a clear day. It is powered by electricity with a backup diesel generator.
We strolled back into the town, passing the statue of Commander Frank Arthur Worsley who was the captain
of the Endurance which was crushed in the ice at Elephant Island during Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition 1914-1916. He was a proper NZ hero from Akaroa! He took Shackleton and 5 other men with him and navigated the 7 metre (23 foot) lifeboat James Caird 1330 km (800) miles to South Georgia in an epic voyage (across some of the roughest seas on earth) in order to get help. At that time his navigational equipment consisted only of a sextant and compass. Given that the skies were perpetually grey even if his calculations were out by the slightest amount, this could translate into an error of many miles and would have them missing South Georgia entirely and heading out into the open ocean. Despite the overwhelming odds against success, on May 10, 1916 the James Caird landed on South Georgia. Subsequently all 23 crew of Endurance were rescued.
We continued back into 'our' part of town and paid a visit to the pub next door to the hostel. After taking some photos of the French bits of town and of our hostel (the very French 'Chez la Mer'😉, D cooked lamb chops for dinner. We are looking forward to the
boat trip tomorrow.
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