Akaroa Once Again

Upon arriving in Christchurch, Janice and I were put up in a motel where we stayed for a few days while looking for a flat. At the motel we switched on the TV to see the local news and came across a local service channel  dedicated to showing tourist sights near Christchurch.  Akaroa, a small village an hour from the city, kept coming up. It became one of the first places on our list to visit, and we did just that as soon as we got settled and had some time. Akaroa in the springtime is beautiful.  When the Neiders suggested we do a final outing, we were excited to see Akaroa in the fall.  Just before arriving in Akaroa, there are some “hills” to climb and once you get to the top you see Akaroa Harbor—literally ‘long harbor’ in Maori—opening dramatically before you, the land dropping steeply to a turquoise sea.  As a guide told us, Akaroa was a place the French had their eye on, and a French immigration company sailed into the harbor to try and claim it, only to find an English flag flying there. The Brits had beaten them there by three months! He told us that the English and French grew tired of fighting over such things.  The English decided to let the French stay and have a part in settling the beautiful area.

The mountains that surround the water were created long ago by the eruption of a huge volcano. Originally there was no water in the crater. Eventually the south east wall of the crater eroded away and the ocean rushed in to create the bay, and what is now, a beautiful, quaint, quirky, French settlement and tourist attraction. It is not unlike some of the tourist destinations in the U.S.A., like Park City, Jackson Hole, Silverado, Colorado, etc. There are fun things to do like “Swimming with the Dolphins”, Harbor Sailing Cruises, Fishing Outings, etc., as well as shops and restaurants. The Neider’s wanted us to go on a sailboat tour of the harbor and see the Dolphins. A great adventure for sure.

We spent some time visiting shops and getting a taste of the local atmosphere. We met some fun people and had a sandwich at a little café on the street.

At a custom jewelry store, we met this Dutchman.  He, like many others, came to Akaroa to visit and ended up staying. He reminded us of Jan DeWolf our Dutch friend from our old Bountiful Ward. He was a real craftsman and made beautiful jewelry. A very friendly man too.

Speaking of jewels, this is mine.

At the café, I heard something overhead, and looked up at the awning shading us, and saw this seagull walking around on the canvas. I took this amusing picture of it’s silhouette.

This is Elder Neider with three members of the crew on the “Fox II”. These girls were from Germany and Holland, and were working for the Captain of the boat, a gentleman from New York City, who with his wife was visiting New Zealand and thought it would be a great place to retire. Little did they know they would decide not to wait for retirement, but find a way to make a living and stay here with their little family.

His wife runs a youth hostel, or what they call here, a “Backpackers” and he is the captain of this sailboat, the Fox II.

This is Roy the captain and owner of the Fox II. His son came along since school was on break this week.

As was mentioned, part of the cruise was to see Dolphins! These are Hector’s Dolphins, some of the smallest cetaceans in the world. We sure saw a lot of them.  It was fascinating to watch them appear, go to the bow of the boat and swim playfully just in front of us. I watched one of them out in the distance jumping repeatedly out of the water as if he were trying to catch a seagull that was flying overhead. He jumped successively, all the way out of the water perhaps 10 or 12 times.  I can sure see why people love these wonderful creatures. We also saw seals, penguins and many varieties of birds on the trip.

This was just barely off the front of the bow, you can see the ship’s anchor hanging off the bowsprit.

In this picture you can see where we were heading, out to open sea through the break in the volcano which let the sea in, forming the the “Long Harbor”. It is truly long, it took forever to exit the harbor and get to open sea.

The “Happy Sailors”.

As the sun started to set on the last leg of the cruise, Roy played the song “Red Sails in the Sunset” sung by Nat King Cole. An appropriate end to a great day!

Just a word about Kenny and Margo.  They have become one of the great blessings of this mission.  We look forward to many more years and eons of friendship.