Adventuring in Akaroa

So last Friday I decided to go to a place that was fairly nearby to Christchurch, but that I had never been to, mostly because I was never quite sure how one gets there. This was Akaroa, a town just south and east of Christchurch. I was initially debating between staying overnight there or just doing a daytrip. However, when I found a nice little daytour I decided to just go for the day.

We left from the Cathedral Square and drove out of town. On the way out I saw a used book store "specializing in Science Fiction." Oh course I went there the next day. Anyways, the driver told us lots of little facts about all of the towns and beaches we drove past. We stopped at a place called Little River to browse through a craft co-op, which had all kinds of locally produced art and crafts, as well as tourist stuff. After that we stopped a few times to take pictures of the landscape (which was really beautiful). As we drove into Akaroa, the driver gave us the history of the town. It was initially organized by a French whaler named Jean Langlois, who wanted to create a French settlement there. But the Brits got wise, and raised the Union Jack over the area just before the French settlers got there. But the French were allowed to settle there anyways, just under British authority.

The first place I went in Akaroa was the museum, which had outside it a sign with testimonials supposedly from former visitors. One of them, which I found amusing, claimed the Akaroa Museum was "better than Te Papa" (which, for those who've been following my blog will realize, is the National Museum of New Zealand and about ten times as big). It was a nice museum however, with a video on the history of Akaroa, a whole lot of artifacts from the Maori and French periods, a model French house, and an exhibit on the captain of the Endeavour, whose name escapes me, who was from Akaroa.

After the museum I wandered up and down the waterfront snapping pictures. At one point I saw what I thought were ducks or seagulls swimming around in the bay. When I got a little closer, I discovered that in fact they weren't ducks: they were geese! That was really cool.

A lot of the people on the bus planned tours to go see dolphins once they got to Akaroa. I unfortunately did not plan ahead so I could only meander about the docks. But it gave me more time to wander around. I got lunch at a famous fish and chip place: it was quite good, and like always they gave me enough chips for four people. I found it amusing how so many of the signs were in French, even though probably no one in Akaroa is a native speaker. People just showing their cultural heritage, I guess.

On the ride back we stopped at one place, a cheese factory. It was all right, and I even sampled the cheeses, but it was nothing special. After that it was basically a straight shot home, and even though I got a little nauseous, it was a fairly pleasant ride back.

Next I have a book review, and in a few days I'm going to Australia for 4 days! I'll be sure to update people about that.