26th December 2009 After last night’s feast it was a late breakfast this morning. Then we headed out to Akaroa where with it being Saturday all the shops were open for business. We took a drive down to north head, where the entrance to Akaroa is flanked by sheer cliffs, including a rock with a hole into it. We sat for a while at the top of the hill watching the dolphin cruise boats down below. ...
24th December 2009 A lazy breakfast was followed by a pleasant morning wandering around the small township of Akaroa. Set on the Banks Peninsula, which is the result of violent erruptions by three volcanoes millions of years ago, it was originally the caldera of an ancient volcano which filled with sea water as the oceans rose to make it the pretty little harbour it is today. ...
23rd December 2009 On to the very last leg of our New Zealand adventure today, a week-long stay at a small place about an hour and a half from Christchurch called Akaroa. This is where we’ll be enjoying the festive period doing not much apart from reading, a bit of walking and generally relaxing before the madness of Sydney over New Year. We stopped off to do our ‘Christmas shop’ in Christchurch, which although busier than normal was in no way as bad as the insanity of Tescos a few days before Christmas. ...