Timaru to Akaroa

 Checking out of the Baywatch Motor Lodge this morning I am glad we didn't decide to cook a curry last night as I saw this notice above the cooktop.

We were gone by 8.30 am and found a nice cafe on the highway going North, called Robert Harris, which looked like it was a franchise, but nevertheless served a great breakfast and had strong support from the local police force.

There was a bit of an embarrassing moment when left the cafe to return to the car. I could not open the car with the key pod, tried removing the emergency key and inserting it, still with no luck. All of a sudden I thought, maybe this isn't our car. Sure enough another silver Prius was parked 3 cars away and it responded well to our key.

The drive towards Akaroa is pretty uninteresting until you turn off the highway and head towards the coast turning off at Burnham in our case and travelling through Lincoln. As we progressed onto the Banks Peninsular, the scenery became quite spectacular.

Eventually the water comes into view.

We descend into Akaroa and our accommodation for the next two nights is at La Rochelle Motel.

The town of Akaroa sits within the eroded crater of and extinct volcano. The oldest town in Canterbury, Akaroa was founded by French Settlers who had been sent out by a French colonising company the Nanto-Bordelaise Company in 1840. German settlers took up land in the next bay North, the called German Bay, now Takamatua. 

Even though New Zealand was a British Colony, with HMS Britomart arriving at Akaroa a week before the French settlers and claimed it for Britain, the French claimed they had purchased it from the Maori in 1838. So, the settlement of Akaroa remained French with French being the spoken language and architecture was French. It was a major port for whaling vessels.Throughout the 1840's an increasing number of British settlers came to Akaroa, but they were still outnumbered by the French. The French naval presence in Akaroa Harbour ended in 1846, and in 1849 the Nanto- Bordelaise Company sold the rights to land on the Banks Peninsula to the New Zealand Company in 1849 symbolising the end of "French Akaroa".

Nevertheless, Akaroa still feels like a little French enclave.

Arrival at our motel was early, at 1 pm, and well ahead of check in time, so we parked our car and walked into town.

Saint Patrick's Church

The waterfront from the North end of town

The War Memorial

The Cinema

There are lots of colourful old building still decorated with a bit of French flair.

The main street runs along the waterfront and is mainly restaurants and tourist operators

Looking back at the town from the jetty

The old rowing club established in 1914

After a brief walk around town we needed to get lunch whilst it was still being served. We opted for a Thai restaurant in the main waterfront area. The streets are pretty quiet today and restaurants are keen to get your business, so most were offering discounts.

The menu was huge, but we eventually opted for noodle soup. I had Tom Yum, whilst Carole had clear noodle soup. By the time I had dosed it up with Chilli, it was quite tasty.

It was now about 2.45 pm, so we walked back to our motel to check in, see what facilities were in the room and then go to the supermarket to get a few breakfast essentials.

A bit of a rest was in order before heading back out for dinner.

Wandering out to find a restaurant for dinner, the late afternoon light really brought some of the old buildings to life.

After checking out just about every restaurant in town, we decided on Ma Maison, which is on the waterfront.

Ma Maison

As seems to be the craze these days, there was a selection of small and large plates. We went for 4 small plates to share and enjoyed a great variety of very well prepared dishes, Serving size was enough to fill us up.

It is still quite light, as the sun sets late here, so we went for a walk to settle our stomaches before heading back to the motel. The afternoon light really brings a different perspective to the waterfront.