When we woke up early this morning, our ship had already anchored at the bay along the town of Akaroa. To get to Akaroa town, we need to get on the tender boat which transferred us from the ship to the shore.
It seemed like the other cruise ship Golden Princess was also following the same itinerary as us. As you can see from the photo below, it was another wet day for us. Jerlene and Javier told us that they preferred to stay on the ship at the kids' club. We were ok as long as they were happy since we were on holiday. However, since we probably would not be able to sign them out during lunch time when the morning session ended, we informed the staff at Adventure Ocean so that they could make special arrangement for Jerlene and Javier.
After getting our complimentary tender tickets from Cascades Dining Room, we waited at the Centrum for our ticket number to be called. We waited quite a while and finally it's our turn to board the tender boat at about 11am.
Akaroa is uniquely the only French colonial settlement in New Zealand. Set on a stunning waterfront and surrounded by craggy volcanic landforms, this nice little town is just 82km from Christchurch, abuot 1.5 hour drive.
We did not go on any shore excursion as we intended to just walk around this pleasant town. Anyway, the weather was not in our favour.
First we visited the Coronation Library. Since 1875, residents of Akaroa who are keen on reading have used this picturesque building as their library.
We then strolled along Beach Road and reached Akaroa Museum at the other part of the town.
Akaroa Museum was established in 1964 around the historic Langlois-Eteveneaux cottage, a rare remnant of the French presence in Akaroa. The Museum has since expanded to include four exhibition galleries and two additional heritage buildings, the Akaroa Court House and the Custom House.
Just round the corner is St Peter's Anglican Church.
Public are most welcome to visit the church to rest, pray or just have a time of reflection
From the church, we walked down the street to Akaroa Bay where there is a playground and a nice jetty.
From a distance, we could see Akaroa Lighthouse, which was from the Akaroa heads to its present location on 2 August 1980. Today a roster of volunteers 'man' the light house to enable the public to visit and view this iconic historic Akaroa landmark.
The sparkling waters of the harbour are home to many wildlife, including the world's smallest and rarest dolphin, the Hectors Dolphin. New Zealand Fur Seals, Little Blue Penguins and a myriad of bird life can also be spotted.
We managed to explore the entire town within 3 hours. As it's way past lunch time, we decided to return to our ship to have our lunch at Windjammer.
While waiting for our tender boat at the jetty, I noticed lots of shell creatures "glued" to the jetty stilts.
No comments:
Post a Comment