Akaroa the Beautiful, Part 2

Since I'm leaving Christchurch tomorrow AM, I decided to take a bus trip to the picturesque town of Akaroa, this sits on the crater of an extinct volcano. The trip there was lovely. Beautiful green pastureland and foothills; vineyards, wildflowers (yes, more lupins of all colors), even lavender farms.

This trip turned out to be special for me. First we went to a beach and looked for interesting stones and shells; then our guide took us to see the small museum in the home of a man who's lived there for 30 years and has collected rocks, fossils and shells...polishes them, sells them, decorates his yard with them. It was really interesting.

The trip continued with a short stop at a local craft shop and then at a dairy that made the most delicious cheese. The road winds uphill until it reaches the top of the volcanic crater, and from there it descends along the side to the village on the shoreline of the lake that was formed after the volcano collapsed, formed a crater, and the ocean rushed in.

This place was the scene of many battles between the more warlike Maoris from the North Island and the more nomadic Maoris of the South Island. Since at that time the Maoris were canibals, there was probably a lot of feasting going on there.

The French explored this part of the South Island, loved it, went back to France and brought a ship full of French settlers and a French warship. Unfortunately for them, the English and the Maoris had just signed a peace treaty making the land of New Zealand part of the British Empire. The French settlers were given the option of staying or settling in Samoa, which was a French possession. To make a long story short, they decided to stay, and many of the streets of the town have French names. The houses are mostly made of wood, painted colorfully, and have a wonderful view of the harbor on one side and the green mountainsides on the other. It's a truly beautiful place.

Many of the old houses have been turned into shops, There are a lot of gardens full of the largest and most fragrant roses I've ever seen. In one of the parks along the harbor amongst the other plants were several huge artichoke plants with lots of artichokes just sitting there. When I pointed them out, nobody in our group had either eaten or liked them, so perhaps that's why they haven't been picked.

En route home, our bus had a flat tire, so we had to be rescued by a second bus. Not as dramatic as the man who had a heart attack (and died) on our last train trip, but still a little out of the ordinary.