Akaroa

Akaroa is a small little town on the Banks Peninsula about 80 kms (or about an hour) south of Christchurch. We made sure to go around Christchurch, rather than go through it, but the whole time in Akaroa we didn't feel anything. 

It was an old French settlement before the English, or now New Zealand. settlers took over. However, there is still some french culture that was carried over. A lot of the streets have French names like "Rue Lavaud" and the town is rather quaint with some cute buildings, cafes, and shops along a nice waterfront harbor.

Our backpackers was a cute pink building located right in the town. It also had free Wifi, which is why we chose it. We we originally placed into a small, and fuller dorm room that required you to walk outside to use both the resrtoom and kitchen, but then were asked to switch to one inside as they needed more space. We gladly obliged and the new one was much more spacious and we were the only ones in there the first night. It also had it's own bathroom. The first night we got into Akaroa we just relaxed in the backpackers next to the fire as we had driven a lot that day.

The next day we took a little walk to the waterfront area as I wanted to grab a pain au chocolate in one of the little cafes. Unfortunately, they didn't hold a candle to the real ones in France, but it was alright. I miss the pain au chocolates from the patisserie right down the street from John's grandmother's flat in Paris. I miss those.

But it was still a very pleasant walk up to the little lighthouse that sits in the harbor. On the way back into town we took a little side trip onto a small path that wound through the woods.

There were several cute restaurants in the town that boast quite good reputations--especially for seafood fare. But as they were the only ones in the slightly remote town, they were rather expensive, so we stuck to the Four Square supermarket (and a very small one at that) for our meals. 

That afternoon we decided to do one of the bigger walks in the town that led you up through the hills that surrounded the village. We chose one called the Happy Hollows trail that led you up through the woods to a farm belonging to the family of one of the earliest New Zealand settlers in the town, called Happy Hollows farm. It was up in the hills and so from the top you got a beautiful view of the valley below. 

It was a short, but sweet stay in Akaroa. It was also our last stop on our grand tour of the South Island. Next (and last stop for the moment) at Lake Tekapo!