Christchurch and Akaroa
Wednesday 2004-03-31
I spent all morning and part of the afternoon in the center of Christchurch. Just sightseeing, shopping for music and eating lunch. Then I took off for Akaroa. Akaroa is on the Banks Peninsula and is about a 1 1/2 hour drive southeast of Christchurch. The Banks Peninsula was formed by the eruptions of two volcanoes. The French settled there in the mid-1800's, so many of the streets have French names. I booked a wonderful B&B about a 3 minute walk from the harbor. Once I arrived in Akaroa I knew that I wanted to stay for a while so I immediately extended my B&B reservation for another night. Akaroa is a small town. The permanent population is something like 500. But it's also something of a resort, so there are a lot of visitors during the prime season. Fortunately this is the off season, so there were very few visitors on the street. Since it's such a small town there is really only one main street and it runs along the waterfront of the bay. I had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant on the waterfront, had an after dinner walk and then returned to the B&B, a very happy and relaxed camper.