Akaroa

I spent the weekend with Mum and Dad on the Banks Peninsula at the weekend - named by Cook, who thought originally it was an island, and almost colonised by the French but not quite. The main peninsula town Akaroa still has French street names though and we had a lovely dinner in a slightly mad French restaurant. The weather, however, was not good. Flying into Christchurch on Friday evening gave a hint of what was in store ...



So when we got to Akaroa on Saturday it was raining and the harbour cruise on a ketch we wanted to do wasn't happening. We did however get onto a normal cruise in the hope of seeing some of the harbour's wildlife - Akaroa harbour is basically the crater of an ancient extinct volcano. We were lucky. It was pelting it down with rain, but it was calm and we saw dolphins! Lots of dolphins. They're very rare Hector's Dolphins, only found in NZ. They're quite small and very lovely to watch, and we had loads around us for a while including some baby ones. :)



And I took a video too with my little camera, here.

We also saw a couple of penguins, lots of cormorants, shags and seagulls, and visited a seal colony where some pups were happily playing despite the rain. All very nice, and nicer to go to our lovely b&b (Maison de la Mer, with friendly hosts and a cute dog) afterwards.

We had dinner at a restaurant called C'est la Vie (Au Bout du Monde), which was brilliant - quirky little place with two set sittings and the menu on a blackboard on the door. Wonderful food, would highly recommend it!

The sun was briefly out the next morning so I got some photos of Akaroa looking pretty.









And you gotta love Kiwi humour.



Tired today though after a late night back - the weather had turned during the afternoon and was foul; the flight was bumpy and the landing absolutely terrifying, with 50 knot winds buffeting us around. Ugh. No fun.