Having spent a good deal of time in the car yesterday, I missed my morning walk, so I was out at 6.30am this morning to see more of Akaroa. It is still a bit dark at this time and I seemed to be one of the only people up and about. By 7 am more walkers started appearing.
There is no wind and the sea is glassy.
Reflections from the jetties
I continued walking along the waterfront, past all of the restaurants and jetties that the tourist boats leave from, to see how far the road continued.
Soon I discovered the Akaroa Yacht Club.
Akaroa Yacht Club
A quick google search yielded that they only race on Sundays and whilst visitors are welcome to participate, prizes are only awarded to full members of the club.
A little further along the road I found the old lighthouse. Originally located at Akaroa Heads, this lighthouse was relocated to this site. Originally built in 1879 the lighthouse remained in service until the 1970's. In 1980 it was cut into 3 sections, transported to this site and reassembled and restored.
On the way back to the motel I thought I had discovered a rare pink version of the famous NZ Toi Toi only to find later that it is relative, South American Pampas Grass.
Kiwis seem to have a love hate relationship with Australian Fauna, particularly possums, which are sought after for their fur to blend with wool, but there is a great desire to eradicate them.
Our plan for this morning is to go for a walk after breakfast, on Onawe Pa Track, about a 13 km drive from here to the trail head. It needs to be undertaken at low tide and we are in luck as the tide is right.
Along the way we stopped at Robinsons Bay to get a few photos of the refections on the glassy water.
It is a sultry morning with little wind and the temperature is in the high teens, ideal conditions for a walk. Access to the track head is via a single lane gravel road off the main road at the town of Duvachelle. We are fortunate on our way in not to meet any vehicles coming the other way.
To get to the track you need to cross a tidal zone which at the current low tide is not a problem, but it is clear that at high tide this is all under water.
The gate at the track entrance
It is a relatively steep climb all of the way to the top, but the views are well worth it and coming back is all downhill.
Carole taking a photo looking back to the entry shore
We spotted a Kereru in a tree on our way up
Nice sheltered bay for yachts on moorings
A vineyard on the other shore
Looking back down the track from the summit
On our way back down the track we ran into a lot more people. It seems there is a school excursion underway with some still arriving. By the time we get to the car the parking space is almost full, and as we are about to leave, another 3 vehicles arrived. We managed to vacate our spot and squeeze past them to get out. However, as we progressed along the one lane road we experienced more arriving. Somehow we managed to pull over far enough to let them gingerly pass or vice versa. We were pleased to be out of there and glad we got there early to have an uninterrupted time on the track.
Back in Akaroa, it is now well after 11am and we haven't had our morning coffee. We left the car at the motel and walked down to the nearest cafe where we got a good coffee, and having been corrupted by the Macdonalds, we shared a very tasty cheese scone.
We continued on after our coffee, through town as Carole wanted to see a few of the highlights I had seen on my morning walk. There was a bit of a diversion along the way off onto a track to the Garden of Tane. We did part of it through some large Sequoia and Radiata Pine trees that were very old.
They are very big trees
There was a lookout on the track giving us a view back over the harbour.
We ended up back at the old lighthouse which looked a bit brighter in daylight.
Wandering back to town looking for lunch, we walked past restaurant after restaurant, just looking for something simple like a salad or sandwich. We finally found a small cafe where we could get a panini.
Near the cafe was the cricket ground and to our great surprise we saw a cricket game under way. It seemed semi serious and most of the contestants had grey hair.
When we finally went back out to dinner, we decided to eat at a pub nearby, The Madiera Hotel. There was a large long table set in the dining area which we thought nothing of. As we were enjoying our meal, a number of grey haired gentlemen started arriving wearing blue jackets with a red pin stripe. Could this be a cricket team ?
After enquiring at the bar I discovered we had witnessed an International Cricket match this afternoon. A local team vs an Australian touring team. It was the Australian team who had arrived early in the jackets. Fortunately we had finished our dinner and were out of there before the full contingent arrived for a celebratory dinner, regardless of who won.
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