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Published: October 12th 2008
This weekend we are in Akaroa, on the Banks Peninsula, a lobster-claw shaped peninsula just south of Christchurch. Randy had training in Christchurch on Thursday and Friday this week, and this time, for a change of roles, I got to come along and PLAY while he worked!!
On Thursday I went into the city, accompanied by Gertie (our faithful GPS), and explored the Botanic Gardens, and then walked around downtown. I hadn’t been back to Christchurch since we first arrived in New Zealand back in July, and it was nice to have time to enjoy it again. I’m not really a city person, but Christchurch has a very unhurried feel to it, and it is quite pretty, with lots of parks and gardens. That night we had dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant, and the New Zealand Red Cross, for whom Randy is working, put us up in a motel. On Friday, while Randy was again training, I drove about 25 minutes east of town to Sumner, a delightful beach town that we had also visited back in July. This town just exudes cuteness, and I think it is one of my favorite places so far. It is such a
relaxing and lovely place. There are dramatic rock cliffs that rise above the town, and I took a long walk along the beach and cliffs with the usual (!) breathtaking scenery along the coast visible from there. The most beautiful purple flowers were everywhere! I treated myself to a delicious lunch at an outdoor café, and took the time to savor and enjoy my day.
At 5 pm I returned to meet Randy, and we headed south to Akaroa. On the map it looks close (a common misconception in New Zealand!) but it took us nearly 2 hours to reach our destination in Le Bons Bay. The road was steep and twisty, and continued skyward until you just couldn’t believe it would go any higher, then it wound around and down, with views of both the protected Akaroa Harbor and the ocean.
We arrived at our hostel, Le Bons Bay, which is very highly rated, and now we know why! Unlike any other hostels we have stayed at thus far, the proprietor, Gary, cooks a gourmet dinner which is served family-style at a long wooden table in the cozy kitchen to whomever of his guests wish
to partake. Since the hostel is quite a long way from town, most do stay for dinner!! He served breaded and sautéed fresh caught fish, crayfish (like lobster), a platter of assorted, roasted spring vegetables, and a lovely salad of pumpkin, onion, feta cheese and lettuces. For dessert, which is served after all the guests pitch in and do the dishes, we had rhubarb cake and homemade raspberry ice cream. This feast cost us $15 apiece!! Several of the “doubles,” including ours, are in individual cabins. We have an amazing view of an incredibly green valley from our front “porch”. The room is small, and the bathroom is down a path (yes, outside, almost camping from my perspective!!), but there is an electric blanket on the bed to keep us toasty. It was really quite comfortable.
In the morning bread and cereal are available for breakfast, and then Gary offers to take out 8 people in his small open aluminum boat for a wildlife (and sometimes fishing) trip. We happily went along, and the weather was beautiful (for a change!!) and the ocean was very calm. Gary launches the boat off a trailer right into the surf, fully
loaded with his passengers. We saw Hector’s dolphins(they are very small, and are an endangered species) right off the bow during our trip, watched some white-flippered penguins swimming nearby, and best of all, got very close to some adorable baby seals lazing on the rocks. Gary also showed us some very unique rock formations, bird nests, caves, and lava tubes. The harbor cruise in the village is about $100 per person, and this cost us $35 each. What a deal!!
We also met some very nice people at the hostel. Starting out with introductions at dinner, it’s like being here with a group of friends. Right now some of the girls who are staying and working here are eating a big pot of mussels that they just picked off the rocks in the bay not an hour ago!!
After our boat trip, we headed into the village of Akaroa, where it was “French Festival” Day, so there was lots going on: food, entertainment, etc. I had a chocolate croissant and a chocolate crepe. Happy day!! We took a long walk along the harbor, and enjoyed seeing pleasure boats moored there along with lots of wonderful scenery.
It was a very relaxing day, and, for a change, it was warm and sunny. We were told the water temperature is 9 degrees C, which is less than 50 degrees F, but there were kids playing in the water!! We also noticed, not for the first time, that there is rarely any trash on the streets here. Even with lots of people here for the festival, you rarely see a stray wrapper on the ground.
I have to backtrack now, because we have had several trips that I have not yet written about in travelblog. For several of our journeys we encountered a lot of rain (they do call him Rainday!!) which did put a damper on things. Last month we travelled 2 hours south to Dunedin, where the highlight of my visit was a tour of the Cadbury chocolate factory, and we also had another trip, this time for 5 days, to Wanaka and Queenstown, about 5 hours west and in the central portion of the south island. Wanaka was a very pretty lakeside town, with lots of character, and we stayed in another lovely backpackers, “Wanaka Bakpaka” where we again had our own individual cabin
with a gorgeous view (that one even had its own bathroom!!). On that trip, we drove along the western edge of Lake Wanaka towards Mt. Aspiring, and that particular road rates in my book amongst the top most beautiful routes for outstanding scenery. We passed at least 20 waterfalls, and the expanse of valleys and the colors of the fields and rocks were jaw dropping. (not to mention the abundance of lambs in the fields!) We then took quite a challenging walk to see Rob Roy glacier (5 hours round trip) which starts out through a sheep pasture, over a swinging bridge across a rushing river, and then up a path along the side of a mountain. The “Wanaka Walkers,” a group of retirees who walk every week, whizzed by me and put me to shame!! In Wanaka we also attended a movie in a local cinema where the seating arrangement includes old couches, airline seats, recliners and an old car, and during intermission they sell homemade ice cream, cookies, and other yummy things.
Our trip from Wanaka to Queenstown was along a high ridge road, and on that day it was extremely windy. So windy, in fact,
that when I opened the car door, it “sprung” the hinges and broke the door!!! We have seen a few such days of serious wind since then. It’s great for springtime allergies; the nurses call this month “Snoctober.” Queenstown is known as the adrenaline capital of New Zealand, but I have enough of an adrenaline rush driving with Randy along some of these precarious cliff roads that do not have any guardrails, so I have no interest in bungy jumping or other such activities! Unfortunately, it rained for our full day in Queenstown, so I don’t have too much to say about the town.. There are some nice shops and restaurants, and we stopped in a chocolate café for ice cream and ended up talking with a young couple from England who were visiting N.Z. and we had a very interesting and varied discussion with them. It is especially fun to talk about U.S. politics from the perspective of those outside the U.S.
A wonderful one day adventure was our trip just 45 minutes south, in a little town called Waimate, where a spirited and colorful character named Gwen raises orphaned wallabees, and then cares for them on
her property, which is open to the public for tours. Not only do you get a tour, but you get to hand-feed the wallabees, which are like miniature kangaroos (who are extremely gentle), and she also lets you hold the baby wallabees, some of which are just a few months old, and still require swaddling and bottle feeding!!
Last Sunday we both had a free day, so we retraced our steps to some places we had been to before, but wanted to re-visit.. We drove to Oamaru, about an hour south of Timaru. It is a town known for its lovely architecture from the late 1800’s with buildings made of local white limestone, but this time we saw it in the sunshine, which was much nicer than our previous visit in the rain. We stopped at the Whitestone Cheese Factory. We have become devotees of their wonderful cheeses, especially their blue cheeses, and we stocked up in the factory store, which has very good prices (and generous tastings!) We strolled around the Botanic Gardens (every town has a carefully tended public garden) and admired it in full bloom. Yea, spring!!
On our way to the town
Room #16 at Wanaka Bakpaka
A million dollar view for a discount price!of Moeraki, we did have a brief hailstorm, per usual for the changeable N.Z. weather, but fortunately it quickly blew over. We enjoyed an early dinner at Fleur’s Place, a wonderful fish restaurant that is already one of our favorite places, and then we revisited the yellow eyed penguins at Kahki Point, near the Moeraki lighthouse. There is a great walk out to a peninsula where birds nest and seals laze, and just on the other side of the fence is where the penguins roost. We got very close to their nesting sites, and they didn’t seem to be at all shy (which is what the rangers say about them!!)
After we arrived home on Sunday night we got a call from Marijka, one of the ER nurses, inviting us to join her and her nephew the next day for a tramp up a mountain. So on Monday we climbed Peak Hill (3700 feet, some “hill”!) which rewarded us with some beautiful views of Lake Coleridge, which is a brilliant blue color, below us. Per usual, this hike was straight up and then straight down! It’s cardio on the way up, and gives your knees a workout on
the way down! I was glad that I had to go to work on Tuesday so I could recover!!
Both Randy and I worked on Tues and Wednesday before leaving for Christchurch early Thurday morning (we actually do work in between travels!!) and we will be off to work again on Monday morning!
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