Akaroa, New Zealand

After coming out of the mountains we follow NZ Hwy 1 along the coastal plain northward towards Christchurch. Around Christchurch, we drive one of the few four lane highways in New Zealand and encounter  more traffic than usual. Before reaching Christchurch proper we turn off on Hwy 75 towards the Banks Peninsula and Akaroa, a popular resort town once settled by the French and still retains its distinctly French character.

KiwiRail on flat coastal plain

Viator Tour bus tour from Christchurch?

After threading our way between farms, we are soon back on a classic New Zealand narrow winding road, where we meet classic critters - sheep. Actually, we've seen fewer sheep than we expected as not as many are grown for wool as in the past.  In fact, the most common sheep now raised are a hybrid best for meat. With the increasing costs of shearing sheep and sending the the wool to China to be cleaned (an ecologically messy process), New Zealand sheep are now mostly grown for their meat.

Back to narrow winding roads

Shade loving sheep

About half way, we pass through the small town of Little River home of the unique Silo Stays Accommodations.
After the summit, it's all downhill into Akaroa. As the road twists and turns we get amazing views of the town and its sheltered harbor.

Akaroa and its sheltered bay

We get good campsites at the Akaroa Top 10 Holiday Park with it's magnificent views of the harbor and town. A woman traveling alone from Chicago is camped next door to us.  We ask her how traveling by herself in New Zealand has been. She says she loves it as it much safer than Chicago. Actually, we've met a number of women traveling alone and they all have said the same thing.

After we settle in we are quickly visited by a family of ducks consisting of a female Mallard and her ducklings. They are so cute, we all give in to the temptation and feed the ducks, thereby teaching them bad habits at an early age.

Since there's still several hours of light left in the day, we hike down to the town.

Ducklings scramble for bread crumbs

View of Akaroa from campground

Nice bench by harbor

Akaroa lives up to its reputation of being a charming town with a distinctly French flavor.  Jill and I are pleasantly surprised to find most clothing prices are lower in Akaroa than many other towns we've visited. Although, the store selling fine European lace clothing was not at all cheap. We also find a small trailer with a woman selling fresh crepes and a wonderful old fashioned sweet shop. The candy is tempting, but it's not on my diet. However, the ginger/lemon ice cream is another matter.  It's low calorie, right?

Fresh crepes for sale

Candies tempt sweet-tooths

As the light fades, we wander into the downtown park, complete with it's WWI memorial (odd we don't see as many WWII Memorials).  These are quite common in New Zealand. We also discover a wonderful bronze statue of an artist painting an empty canvas.  The guys love posing as the art piece being created.

WWI Memorial

Artist works on Mark

then Peter

By the time we start back up the hill, which seems steeper than when we walked down, it's almost dark.  Good thing we brought headlamps with us as the trail is getting really hard to see.

Sunset at Akaroa - are those clouds on the horizon?

Sure enough, the next day is gray and rainy. So we scrap our plans to stay another night and continue our drive northward towards Nelson.