The French Invasion at Akaroa

Off to Akaroa. The drive once we get to the peninsula is dramatic and from every turn around the mountainside, we get fantastic views of the bays that make up this area. We pull up at the Top 10 Park that is high up the hill side and get to choose a wonderful site that overlooks the bay. Dinner in the kitchen that night was lamb chops and mashed potato and it was wonderful! In the morning we set out to walk to the town and next to our van was a cut-through to the bay below. It was quite frosty and as we started our downward walk, Keith slipped on an icy patch and fell quite heavily on his hand. Even worse than that, he had dirtied his trousers and had to return to the van to change them!

The town is very French and for good reason. In 1838 a French Captain Jean François Langlois, purchased some land from Kai Tahu chiefs. Back in France he advertised for people to go to settle in New Zealand and so they set off to this new land. Although they established a settlement, the British had arrived and claimed the land instead. However, despite this, the French settlers stayed and even today the French influence is seen throughout the town. It is a lovely place and we get a coffee at a corner cafe, sit outside to do what the French love to do - people watch! Then off to walk around this small town. We head down to the harbour and along Beach Road until we get to the Lighthouse, that sits proudly above the town. There is a muddy path opposite which leads us through a wood to the various historic cemeteries, split into Catholic, Anglican and Dissenters. We carry on through the trees back into town and see many older buildings from the time when the French settlers arrived. As it's lunch, we try out the recommended fish and chip shop, Murphy's on the Corner. At first sight, it doesn't look much, but we order their special and take it down to the harbour to eat on one of the benches. The portions were huge, but we did eat it all and it was absolutely delicious. The seagulls were very disappointed that there were no scraps left for them. We then stroll further along to find a place to have a beer and go into Harbar Beachbar, especially as there is a wood fire going. And that's where we stayed for about 4 hours! A singer, Lesley Meguid, entertained us all and we liked her style so much, that we bought her CD (the only one she has done, it's a few years old and all her own songs - not sure why she hasn't done more). After leaving the bar, we intended to walk back, but popped into a further drinking establishment, to find that it was full of people, all probably from the town. They were watching a rugby match and following the Crusaders, that hail from nearby Christchurch. They were playing in a cup semi-final and it was a close game that they won, so the atmosphere was quite electric in the room. We ended up chatting to a couple of locals and managed to get a lift from one of them, in his old Porche up to our campsite, which was very kind of him. The following morning, we found we had a problem with the motorhome, in that the waste water had not emptied out and instead had empied into the shower unit instead. So we had to take the motor to the Christchurch depot to get it sorted. With time against us, we decided we would try and get to our next stop along Arthur's Pass by nightfall. Along the way we stopped at an incredible lake, Lake Pearson, where the reflection of the mountains in the water resembled a kaleidoscope image. We also drove over a bridge that crossed a massive ravine; it was so high and the drop so deep that we both nearly fainted! However, we succeeded in reaching Jackson's Retreat Alpine Holiday Park not only to secure a great spot to park, but also have time to cook in the kitchen that had a great wood stove. In addition, we went out to seek glow worms and found them just yards away from our motorhome. Really spectacular, in fact.