Akaroa

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Well, it is the weekend and we needed to be off somewhere. We decided to try a close trip; Akaroa. As you look at Christchurch on the map, just east and south is a round shaped peninsula; Banks Peninsula. Banks bay comes into the center of that peninsula and the little community is Akaroa; pronounced Ah-ka-row-a. Originally inhabited by the Maori, the French and English came in about the 1700’s. It is about an hour drive on windy roads, up the mountain and down into the village of Akaroa. It was a tourist town with shops and historic sites. It was a beautiful, clear sunny day. We took two of the CSU students with us: Tessa, from a sheep ranch up by Sun Valley Idaho, and Leah from a dry-land ranch in Eastern Colorado. Although we were at the coast, the beach was not very sandy, mainly rocky but the seashells were amazing. The tide was down and the smell was pretty strong. We ate fish and chips and took a cruise. We saw little Hector Porpoises and white flippered penguins which can only be found around the Banks Peninsula. We also saw seals. It was fun and Jack didn’t get seasick. We drove our car and it did very well. Incidentally, we came upon Bishop Boyd and his wife who had escaped for the weekend. Ken Boyd is the bishop of our ward, the Cashmere Ward, in Christchurch. They happened to have booked a cruise at the same time. It was a wonderful day.