Akaroa

For part two of the framework of on-the-road-together we went to Akaroa last Thursday. Akaroa is a peninsula with a beautiful harbour bay at an hour’s drive from Christchurch. That is to say, an hour’s drive when you take the shortest route. When you take the tourist detour (and of course, I dragged Emma into doing the detour again) it is about two hours. If on top of that you stop all the time to take pictures – like I do - it takes about three hours in total.

Akaroa is the only town in NZ where the French have tried to establish a settlement with the intent to gradually colonize the rest of NZ. They were a bit too late for that though, since the Maori people (the original inhabitants of NZ) just had sold the whole shebang to the English. So that was a typical case of merci, mais ne pas merci (thanks but no thanks). A handful of French settlers who had already settled down there were allowed to stay in Akaroa. The street names and local family names are the only remaining evidence of that (rue is French for street). In spite of all efforts made by the local tourist information to make you believe Akaroa is French to the bone, I didn’t really notice anything else being French about the town :-)

Oh well, we didn’t come for the French anyway; we came to Akaroa for the stunning landscape, which is abundantly present there. We took a hike, wandered around, made some more pictures, fed sparrows, ate ice cream, in a word: we enjoyed ourselves!