Akaroa in the Rain

Today was very wet and misty—there were weather warnings that Cyclone Gita was due to come through later that night, so this rain was the beginning of it all. We dropped our rig off early this morning at Heatspace as we'd arranged to have a diesel heater installed. They needed it overnight, and so we booked into a motel. With nowhere to go until the motel room was available, we decided to take a drive out to Akaroa.

Akaroa (Maori for long harbour) is a small town on Banks Peninsula, about 75km (1 hour 20 minutes) from Christchurch. Although it's a very windy road to get there, it's worth the effort. As you come over the hills, the first glimpse of Akaroa Harbour shows Barrys Bay in the foreground and Duvauchelle Bay beyond that. There's a narrow piece of land between the bays.

Akaroa is situated on the east side of the harbour. It's a beautiful town that has retained a strong French colonial theme from its 19th century French and British history.

What strikes me most about Akaroa is the colour and character of the town. Although the rain makes it a challenge to take photos while trying to keep the camera dry, hopefully I've managed to capture a taste of Akaroa's beauty and personality for you to enjoy.

This is where we had brunch. We bravely sat outside with Lucy for a while . . . long enough to finish our coffees. But it was so cold, even Lucy was shivering! So we put her back in the ute and retreated to the warmth of an indoors table to eat our meals.

On the way back, we paused at Duvauchelle to photograph these colourful boat sheds.

For the previous four nights, we'd stayed at Weedon's NZMCA Park. It's a big place. When we first arrived, we saw the huge number of mobile homes already there and wondered if there would be a space for us. But once we were in, we found there was a lot of room to park—spoilt for choice, really! The foreground is not part of the park. It's a large area fenced off that appears to be planted with young trees.

As we took Lucy for walks around the perimeter of the park, we found this neighbour through the fence enjoying the setting sun . . .

. . .  and this visitor was hopping around behind some of the motorhomes near the edge of the park.

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