Akaroa, New Zealand
Thursday 12th March
We are anchored today in Akaroa Harbour in the Canterbury region of the South Island. The village of Akaroa is the oldest colonial town on the South Island and is a former French colony with many of the road names in French. We had a pleasant trip in the tender to the pier in Akaroa and then had a wander around this small but very lovely village. The population of the village is just 700 but with two cruise ships in the harbour today, it was very busy. The setting is very beautiful and after a cloudy start to the day the sun decided to come out and it was lovely. We stopped at one of the many cafés to have coffee before continuing our stroll. We went further round the harbour to the historic lighthouse. We were told that the lighthouse had been on the head at the entrance to the harbour and when it was to be replaced the community paid to move it and preserve it. It wasn't a very high and we climbed to the top by the light and went outside. This photo is the view from the top. You can see a cruise ship but that wasn't ours. Our ship is just around the corner!