A Day in Akaroa

Good morning!

Hope this finds everyone well. Today we had no organized tour arranged for our docking in Akaroa, but we still opted to get off the ship and explore this quaint seaside town. It was a bit misleading to call this port "Christchurch/Akaroa," as Chrustchurch was a solid hour's bus ride from where we docked, and the ride was not included in our tour. At a cost of $45 per person for the shuttle, we passed. 

You may or may not be aware that Christchurch experienced two major earthquakes four years ago. The city was significantly damaged in September, 2010 and February, 2011 by 7.1 and 6.3 quakes respectively, which caused a loss of 185 lives and a great deal of structural damage. Because of political squabbling over the cost and rebuilding, the city has still not recovered to the extent that our cruise line felt comfortable docking there, so we instead "tendered" at sea off the coast of Akaroa. Tendering means that we boarded the lifeboats and were ferried to the coast. 

Here is the view we saw as we were making our way to the coastline. Akaroa is a very attractive harbor town.  In fact, David said this was his favorite port of all for two reasons: 1) it didn't look too touristy, and 2) it was spectacularly gorgeous!

We walked to one end of town and enjoyed their beautiful architecture, reflected in the lovely homes and churches we came across, like this one...

Then we walked to the lighthouse at the other end of town...

We came across this cool garden path along the way. The description sounded like something out of Lord of the Rings. Note the "Dissenters' Cemetery..."

And here are a couple more scenic pictures...

It was a wonderfully relaxing day here. We made our way back to the ship via lifeboat for afternoon tea at The Bistro, a small café onboard that we have come to enjoy. 

This evening, we were entertained by a virtuoso violinist from Australia named Ian Cooper.  He drew on musical styles from Classical, Gypsy, Jazz, Latin, Blues, Irishand even country. What an amazing performer!  He told the audience that he has been performing since age six, when he debuted at the Sydney Opera House. 

It has been a great day for us. Hopefully for you all as well!

With love,

Karen and David