I woke naturally at 0704, & after trotting down the corridor to the loo, I decided I might as well get up & get an early start. After all, the sooner I set off, the sooner I'd get to Akaroa ~ somewhere I'd been trying to visit every since I'd 1st heard about it in 2009.
I'd soaked my oats the night before, so shoved the bowl in the m/wave, & brewed up.
I went online to check Es over porridge & coffee, packed the car & checked out, setting off back along the 'loopy' (check a map!) SH8 towards Kimbell at 0845.
You may remember Kimbell? I stayed there in 2011 during my RWC/Ski trip.
I got there in 20 minutes - Burkes pass was very quiet, so I'd let the right foot do its job ;-)
I reversed the route I'd driven yesterday, stopping at the Udder Dairy again for a bacon butty & a brew.
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| A workman's boots: cast off so as not to take crud indoors! |
I took photos this time.
There was a blackboard outside, requesting muddy boots were removed before entering, so I had to get a photo of that.
I'd never seen a shop of any description before which had 'turned Japanese'.
After the butties, it was about 1015, I had 3646.4 on the clock, & it was time to do the Thompson Track again.
The sign said it was 52K to Rakaia this way, & I remembered to note my speedo on the straight bits. The longest one was 41K with only slight curves as it went round entrances to fields at the gate.
Without checking, I think that distance has blasted the straight bits west out of Christchurch into the water. I must look at the blogs I did at the time.
I fueled up at Rakaia at 1135, & went left onto the SH1 north.
While I was driving along (I can tell by the wobbly writing ;-p), I noted that the bridge over the Rakaia River was well over a K long.
They like things long & straight here, eh? ;-)
I got this off Wiki:
Immediately north of the township are New Zealand's longest road bridge and longest rail bridge, both of which cross the wide shingle beds of the braided river at this point. Both bridges are approximately 1750 metres in length.
My right turn off the SH1 (with 86K to Akaroa) was on the Straight 8 corner, & it took me to Lincoln & then Tai Tapu; both townships which were reminiscent of 1950 movies.
Turning right onto the SH75 at Tai Tapu there was a guy with his thumb out, so I stopped & picked him up. He was Tristan, a student at Lincoln Uni, & was off to work at the DOC Reserve above Akaroa. I think it was the Hinewai on Long Bay Rd
SH75 went more or less south east along the eastern edge of Lake Ellesmere, before turning north east & over the hills towards Duvauchell.
Wiki says this about Lake Ellesmere:
Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora is located in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is actually a broad, shallow lagoon located directly to the west of Banks Peninsula, separated from the Pacific Ocean by a long narrow sandy spit called Kaitorete Spit, or more correctly Kaitorete Barrier. The lake holds high historical and cultural significance to the indigenous Māori population and the traditional Māori name Te Waihora, means spreading waters. It has officially had a dual English/Māori name since at least 1938.
I thought I stopped for a pic, but apparently not!
After the turn to the left, there was another lake to the right: Lake Forsyth. It was very green, but Wiki says this was due to algal blooms, & that the lake is very toxic ~ having killed sheep & pets who drank from it. Gosh!
And it looked so nice!
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| Duvauchelle off shot to left & Akaroa above the tree on the right |
Once over the hills, the inlet of Akaroa Harbour
appeared, & I pulled over for a pic.
Tristan said he'd walk from the Long Bay Rd junction, so I dropped him & his big ruckie off at the top of the hill. According to Gmaps, he had a 3K walk to Hinemwai.
Next I headed down the hilltowards Akaroa where I was staying for 2 nights at the Bon Accord Backpackers on Rue Lavaud.
As you can see, there was a lot of French influence here.
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| St Peter's Anglican Church. I didn't go in |
Jade checked me in at Bon Accord, & told me there were home-made cakes later. Oh goody :-q
I was in a mixed dorm.
Good job I had something to sleep in then, given my need to get up in the night!
I unpacked & changed for a proper walk in the sun, setting off down Rau Lavaud towards the beach ~ which I found where Rue Lavaud changed into Beach Rd.
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| Sea shells on the sea shore |
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| My hieroglyphics say these are NZ mallards |
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| The pied shag with the hills to north |
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| Mr (Mrs?) Pied Shag posing |
Apart from the walk along the beach itself, I walked all the way along Beach Rd to Main Wharf, noting a good looking fish'n'chip shop, & various gifty & excursiony-type establishments along it.
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| The little lighthouse from Main Wharf |
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| Aforementioned lighthouse |
Somewhere along the way I must've found out about the 3 Rhodes brothers who more or less settled the Banks Penninsula.
At least, the scrawl down the side of my Gmap says "3 NZ brothers".
Umm ??
My notes also mention the Tane Garden of Remembrance, & I remember having a meander up the hill into the woods. However, while I also wrote "up by cemetery", I have no pics of the Tane Garden. Maybe next time?
The track out & down came out on Beach Rd between the lighthouse & the yacht club, so I turned right back towards town where I found an awesome ice cream kiosk :-)
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| Rata or Ficus? |
Post ice cream I saw these lovely flowering trees across the road from the beach.
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| I showed this to a local in the 4-Square & she wrote down Ficus Ficifolia, but I think it's a Rata |
At the 4-Square ~ where I went for cheese to dip the Graze rice crackers in, I asked at the till what it was, & was told 'Flowering Red Gum'. tbh, I'm not totally convinced.
It looks like a Rata to me??
It looks like a Rata to me??
Back at Bon Accord just before 5, it was time for buns, but I held off until I'd reheated the mussel patty from Christchurch & the final helping of the chips. Well, I did say there were a mound of spuds. If I could remember where it was, I'll go there again next time/if I'm visiting Christchurch. The bun did for a pudding, & I sat in the garden on a bench/table to eat, & to drink my brew & the rest of the Straight 8 fizz. I kept myself company with a crossword, but I got bitten by bugs, so I ended up on my soft bed & fell asleep till about 7pm.
Needing to go online to check-up on the cats, I sent a couple of Es, but both bounced back. Bummer :-(
Instead, I soaked some porridge for breakfast & tried to catch up with the notes for the flight, Christchurch & the drives to & from Tekapo. Unfortunately, but the bod wanted to catch up with lost sleep, & so I'd settled down for the night by 2000.
Thus ended my 1st sight of Akaroa, & I was looking forward to having a good look at the Banks Peninsula in the morning.
Needing to go online to check-up on the cats, I sent a couple of Es, but both bounced back. Bummer :-(
Instead, I soaked some porridge for breakfast & tried to catch up with the notes for the flight, Christchurch & the drives to & from Tekapo. Unfortunately, but the bod wanted to catch up with lost sleep, & so I'd settled down for the night by 2000.
Thus ended my 1st sight of Akaroa, & I was looking forward to having a good look at the Banks Peninsula in the morning.
Having closed my eyes very early, they opened at 0705, so got up & showered before the rush.
Jade had given me a local map, so I planned to head out to Le Bons Bay first & then see Okains Bay: both on the NE cost of the peninsula. I was away before 8, & at some point up the hill or along Long Bay Rd I stopped for some scenery.
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| Looking across Akaroa Harbour to the west? |
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| Akaroa from near the Long Bay junction |
Like I said, I took Long Bay Road, & it was long (poor Tristan ~ I thought about him with his big ruckie when I passed the entrance to the reserve).
It was nearly 5K before the left turn onto Summit Rd., another 4K to the turn onto Le Bons Bay Rd., & 9K down to the beach.
It was nearly 5K before the left turn onto Summit Rd., another 4K to the turn onto Le Bons Bay Rd., & 9K down to the beach.
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| Le Bons Stream looking seaward |
I stopped to ask him why the growth was brown on the left of the road & green on the right. It was quite bizarre.
He didn't know: he wasn't a farmer & just had a bach down by the beach. However, like nearly every Kiwi I've met, he was very friendly & helpful, & told me about a walk to the river which sounded nice.
I took his advice & pulled off to the right, & found a track going up & over a little rise, & then down to the river.
It's called the Le Bons Stream on the map, but it's like a river.
I walked along a little way, but the tide was flowing in, so went back to the car after a Rule 10 & a photo.
Back in the car I went down to the beach & parked under a cedar to write some blog notes, take on some sustenance, & have a think about a swim.
I decided against a swim because it was quite windy, & the walking looked like a better thing to do.
There were 3 camper vans parked there already, & 2 blokes were cooking/eating a big fish. There was also a row of houses/bachs just inland of the sand dunes, but they seemed to be empty & shut up.
Once over the dunes & on the beach, I went right towards the Stream first, & saw a lot of interesting shells lying about. The 1st one I picked up was a Cook's Turban, or Cookia Sulcata.
According to Google, this is: a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Turbindae, the turban snails.
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| Pretty pinky/purple Cook's Turban. They come in other colours, as well |
Turning it over, I discovered this turban was occupied!
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| The beastie inside the shell |
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| There would've been plenty of meat in this mussel |
Obviously I left the beastie where it was, but picked up other shells, including a lovely, big, mauve lipped mussel.
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| Le Bons Stream looking inland |
I walked until I could see the bit of the Stream where I'd taken the photo looking towards the sea, & took one in the opposite direction.
Then I turned round to walk all the way along the stream to the sea, & then across the beach to explore the other side of the bay.
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| The Le Bons Stream estuary |
The sand was quite hard, having dried out a bit during low tide, but it was coming in slowly.
Walking across the beach I spied a strange rock formation at the northern corner of the bay.
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| Highly zoomed rock castle at entrance to Le Bons |
It was a bit crenellated like a castle, but almost like a dragon's head, as well?
Or maybe I've just been watching too much Game of Thrones?? ;-)
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| See what I mean about it looking like a castle? |
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The view along Le Bons Bay up to 'The Headland'
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| Teeny weeny mussels on a Le Bons rock |
At the other end of the beach I found a baby mussel nursery.
Aw.
I hadn't realised mussels came that small.
Aren't they cute? You can (sort of) see how small by the size of my boot prints in the sand.
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| Looking east out of Le Bons Bay |
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| Le Bons from Lavericks Rd. |
Not really knowing where I was going, I asked them the way to Okains Bay, & someone said Dobson's Track would take me down there, so ~ in between gawping at the scenery, dodging farm traffic, I kept my eye out for a likely-looking track/road off & down to the right.
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| Not positive, but I think this little bay is Laverick's: it's about the right shape, according to the map. It was the rotted trees which grabbed my attention from the road |
Consequently, I ended up on Summit Rd. again, but getting down into Okains Bay was a piece of easy thing from there :-)
Driving down to the beach - just before the straight bit on the valley floor, there was a Maori & Colonial Museum, & I decided to have a look on my way back.
There was also a campsite in the corner between the beach & the Opara Stream, so I parked up & had a quick visit to the Ladies before heading beach-wards.
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| Okains Bay beach from the east end |
It was another nice beach with some interesting shells, rocks etc.
If it'd been warmer, I'd've defo had a swim, but there was still a brisk breeze, & wasn't right sunny.
I spent a while moseying around, scrambling over rocks, walking along a track underneath the cliff towards Little Okains Bay (I didn't go all the way there), & taking photos before heading back to the car.
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| Coloured rocks, Okains east |
If it'd been warmer, I'd've defo had a swim, but there was still a brisk breeze, & wasn't right sunny.
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The Ages of Mussels ~ with apologies to
Hesiod, Ovid & Erikson ;-p |
I spent a while moseying around, scrambling over rocks, walking along a track underneath the cliff towards Little Okains Bay (I didn't go all the way there), & taking photos before heading back to the car.
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| Okains cave |
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| A workman gives it the boot! Or maybe the sock? |
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| The drop-kick |
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| Teeing up. Or should that be booting up? |
When I got there, I wasn't
Totally
surprised to see some blokes 'messin' about with their balls' ;-p.
With typical Kiwi ingenuity & the love of the game, they were using their boots as kicking tees, & kicking in their socks.
Could've been painful!
I'm sure I would've stubbed my toe, big style.
But then I'm crap at kicking!
Kicking balls, anyway ;-)
Just before I got back in the car, I took this:
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| This saved me writing it all down, but it's a shame I missed some of the R margin :-/ |
It doubled as a cafe, too, so I had some Okains Bay Store haute cuisine on a lovely china plate.
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| Feta & leek roll with a long black. Notice the lovely china! |
While I was eating, the local postman arrived. He had 'paying guests' with him, & I see from the local I-site you can get tours with the postman.
This must be dead handy if you've no car, or simply not into exploring yourself.
Plus, a handy local telling you stories, as well. Probably?
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| Postman Pat. Or maybe Bruce, Taika, Manu etc? |
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| Ginger cat under my car |
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| The Marae at Okains museum |
Dodging the sproglets, I had a look at the Marae ~ taking a couple of pics, & poked my nose into the other exhibits.
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| Ditto |
The Brief History board had also explained that the site of the museum was where the Cheese Factory had been.
It had opened in Feb.1977.
I spent nearly an hour in there, admiring the Maori weaponry (I so wanted a Mere), & all the other things on display.
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| The next 2 pics are off Google. As you can see, there were a lot of artifacts on display |
Once done on that side of the road, I crossed to have a look at the Waka in their shed in a field!
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| The 2 ceremonial Waka in their shed |
Google says the Okains Bay Waitangi Treaty event is the longest established one on South Island.
It also says you can go out on the Opara River for a paddle in the Waka.
That would be fun :-)
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| The Okains phone box |
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| As it says ~ the Okains bay Store |
Culture over ~ for the time being at any rate, I took my last 2 photos & headed seawards again.
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| Looking back into the Okains Bay estuary from Chorlton Rd. |
This time I turned left before the beach onto Chorlton Rd., intending to go up & over the top again. This time towards Little Akaroa.
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| The river meets the sea at Okains Bay |
At the top of the hill there were some sheep on the road, so I went up the nearest drive & eventually (via some barking dogs) roused a woman out of the house. She said she'd let the owner know.
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| After doing Street View on Gmaps, I discovered this is Raupo Bay |
A bit further on, I stopped for a pic of another lovely bay - but there were so many great sights, I couldn't take photos of them all!
Dropping down into Little Akaroa I lay on the roadside to take a pic of some pretty blue & white flowers & a blue & white sky. |
| It took me bloody Forever on Gmaps to find out where this was! |
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| Little Akaroa beach from the east end |
The car was sheltering under what I'd thought was a big yew tree while I swam out to a buoy, but I subsequently found out it wasn't Yew, & wrote down what it was.
Somewhere??
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| The car & the tree I thought was a Yew |
No doubt I'll read its proper name at some point while I blog NZ16.
Mind you, the hieroglyphics are occasionally beyond me, even though I wrote them!
Back on shore, given the lack of 'facilities' in the Women's room, I washed the salt off by rolling around in the shallow river, & watched a woman from a nearby house gathering seaweed for her compost heap. She said there'd been a cyclone from Fiji & it had brought seaweed up into the river mouth.
There was a diving platform pulled up on the beach, so I lay on that for a bit to dry off. While I was lying in the sun, I also wrote up some notes & did some puzzles from a Metro I'd found on the train down to the airport. The wind had dropped a bit, & it was lovely & warm & peaceful :-D
Dried off & back in the car, I reached Summit Rd at 1640, & headed back to Akaroa for some tea.
I remembered seeing a fish'n'chip shop on the Wharf, so parked up & headed there. Murf said he only had Waihoa left.
At least, I think that's what he called it, but I can't find any native NZ fish with anything like that name. Um??
Possibly it was Warehou, & possibly a kind reader will put me right??
I remembered seeing a fish'n'chip shop on the Wharf, so parked up & headed there. Murf said he only had Waihoa left.
At least, I think that's what he called it, but I can't find any native NZ fish with anything like that name. Um??
Possibly it was Warehou, & possibly a kind reader will put me right??
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| Murf's Fish & Chip shop on Main Wharf |
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| Murf |
I found a picnic table just south of the Wharf, & sat in the lowering sun for my tea.
Lovely :-D
Replete, I drove back to Bon Accord, & began to pack - I was headed to Christchurch in the morning, but planned to take in as much of the rest of Banks Peninsula as I could on the way.
Over a brew & a bun in the kitchen, I got chatting to Anna from Germany. As is common with Germans, her English was excellent, & I found out she had to be in Christchurch as well the next day, but was planning to hitch: the buses weren't at all frequent, & that was the main reason I'd opted for a car.
Anyway, I offered her a lift, as long as she didn't mind taking the scenic route ;-p
Deal done, we arranged to leave about 9, & I went for a walk in the opposite direction to yesterday evening.
A little way along the road I found St Patrick's, an awfully cute little building.
It was like something out of a fairy-tale.
Then across the road by the shore, another cute building on a short pier.
While writing this blog, I asked the Akaroa I-site about the building on the pier, & Doreen got back almost straightaway (given the 1/2 day, 1/2 a planet distance between us!), & said it was Daly's Wharf.
I also asked about Murf's Waihoa, but I guess I got the spelling very wrong, & she couldn't help me with that one ;-)
However, she did suggest I ask the Akaroa Museum, so I did. I also sent a pic of St Patrick's, & Lynda replied with this:
We don't have a lot more about the Daly's Wharf shed - it's history is elusive.
However the church you've photographed is St Patricks Catholic church, built in 1865 with the tower added in 1893.
Lovely :-D
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My tea table in the setting sun
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Replete, I drove back to Bon Accord, & began to pack - I was headed to Christchurch in the morning, but planned to take in as much of the rest of Banks Peninsula as I could on the way.
Over a brew & a bun in the kitchen, I got chatting to Anna from Germany. As is common with Germans, her English was excellent, & I found out she had to be in Christchurch as well the next day, but was planning to hitch: the buses weren't at all frequent, & that was the main reason I'd opted for a car.
Anyway, I offered her a lift, as long as she didn't mind taking the scenic route ;-p
Deal done, we arranged to leave about 9, & I went for a walk in the opposite direction to yesterday evening.
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| Akaroa's St Patrick's church |
It was like something out of a fairy-tale.
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| Daly's Wharf & sunset over Akaroa Harbour |
I also asked about Murf's Waihoa, but I guess I got the spelling very wrong, & she couldn't help me with that one ;-)
However, she did suggest I ask the Akaroa Museum, so I did. I also sent a pic of St Patrick's, & Lynda replied with this:
We don't have a lot more about the Daly's Wharf shed - it's history is elusive.
However the church you've photographed is St Patricks Catholic church, built in 1865 with the tower added in 1893.
Hoping this is helpful to you,
Kind regards,
Lynda
So that's how I found out.
Lynda
So that's how I found out.
My evening stroll was lovely, & rounded off a great day on Banks Peninsula.
Back at the Bon Accord, I did some sudoku & drank the rest of the Straight 8 riesling while my bits & pieces were charging on someone's charger. I finally hit the sack at 2130 with the alarm set for 0745.
So endeth Day 3 of NZ16.
As I write, I'm aware that tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of this day, & I have 23 days of NZ16 to blog, 2017's holidays to do, & various other blogs about home, Edinburgh & my Brathay volunteering trips.
Gordon Bennett!
Trouble is, as I blog, I wonder about stuff, ask Google, & end up spending ages finding out things I never knew about where I'd been.
It's great, & I don't suppose this leopard will change its spots anytime soon ;-)
But for now ~ Over & Out
So endeth Day 3 of NZ16.
As I write, I'm aware that tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of this day, & I have 23 days of NZ16 to blog, 2017's holidays to do, & various other blogs about home, Edinburgh & my Brathay volunteering trips.
Gordon Bennett!
Trouble is, as I blog, I wonder about stuff, ask Google, & end up spending ages finding out things I never knew about where I'd been.
It's great, & I don't suppose this leopard will change its spots anytime soon ;-)
But for now ~ Over & Out
