Akaroa has, so far, been one of the most beautiful places that we've visited so far. Despite the very Maori-sounding name, this is where the French first landed when they came to New Zealand in 1840.
Because of this, Akaroa has a lot of French influence. That means a lot of "Rue de..." (Street - in French!), French flags, and patisseries.
The picture heading this post is one of my favourites that I've taken so far - despite my terrible phone quality pictures! - and was taken from a monument at the far reaches of Akaroa. Unfortunately, this was marking where the British first came to this area of New Zealand, and a little further along there was a Maori monument representing all the terrible things that they'd done.
We apologised on behalf of all the British (as best we could) and continued with our day.
The Saturday was the only full day we had in Akaroa, and it started with Matt waking up at around 6am and making himself a coffee before making his way down to the town at around 8am to "A la Baguette" - the local bakery and cafe.
We would later find out that this particular bakery opened at 6am, and Matt had no need to wait so long before getting a delicious almond croissant and a pain au chocolat for me. We'd take advantage of this fact in the future; camping really changes your sleeping patterns when you first start out!
While Matt was out, I overheard a small child outing his mother as an alcoholic with the hilarious conversation as follows:
Child 1: Where's mum gone?
Child 2: She's gone to throw up in the toilet
*bottles clanging*
Child 2: (very proudly) She had five or six of these!
Child 1: The rum!
Desperate Father: (desperately trying to distract) Okay, guys! Shall we go to the bathroom?
Child 2: Yes, I've been absolutely BURSTING
So that made my day from the get-go!
After enjoying our pastries in the already-hot sun outside the tent, we made our way down to Akaroa together, stopping off at their teeny tiny market outside the small church. We got some strawberries and, in all honesty, I ate most of them.
This was then when we made our small hike to see the lighthouse (wrapped up for construction so we couldn't see anything!) and then on toward the 'Britomart' monument - where the picture at the top of the article was taken.
For lunch on our way back, we stopped off at 'Ma Maison' which was very (un)helpfully translated in the menu for us. Matt had a Wagyu burger, and I had a chicken salad, which was delicious, with rice noodles and bean sprouts.
On the sharp, steep, hike back up the hill to the Top10 campsite, I took my first landscape Polaroid photo which I have managed to show off below (over the top of my notebook of the holiday i.e., how I remember what on Earth we've actually been up to):
Very happy with my Polaroid camera, and I'm sure there'll be many more Polaroid pictures to share (thanks to my Pole Fitness girlies! <3).
Once we got back, Matt napped and I had the need to be creative. I drew, I crotcheted, and I was very happy with my new wool that I got from Christchurch before we left.
For dinner, we made use of the ovens in the Top10 facilities and heated up some pizzas that we bought earlier, taking them back to the tent to catch up on some YouTube before retreating deeper and deeper into the tent as it got colder and darker throughout the evening.
The next day, we were up and out by 6:20am, making it down to A la Baguette for breakfast at 6:30am before heading back to the campsite and packing up. It would have been nice to stay for a while longer, what with the hot showers, cooking facilities, and laundry, but we've come to adventure (on a budget!) so we set off by around 10am.
Heading toward Peel Forest, we stopped for an early lunch at about halfway in a small little town where Matt got a steak and cheese pie and I had a saussie roll and the most amazing looking iced chocolate I've ever seen in my life!
I wish I'd taken a picture, but I really don't like being "that person" so I held off. If I come across another one as amazing as this one, I'll be sure to include visual proof!
Continuing on, we came across Highway 1. I'd been doing all the driving, and this became the closest thing I've ever done to a motorway, but it really wasn't that hard (single lane on both sides and a 100kph speed limit - nothing more than the roads around Greenhow Hill!).
We arrived at Peel Forest at around 1:15pm, also making it the longest drive I've done so far and I was super proud of myself.
Peel Forest is a DOC (Department of Conservation) campsite, meaning that it is in a protected area of New Zealand, and what you can and cannot do is very limited. This was one of the more "stocked" sites, with flushing toilets, showers, and cooking facilities that suited us very well.
We set up the tent, making it "all cute" as I've written in my notes, but this was quickly overshadowed by the arrival of the rain. Further inland in NZ makes you more likely to experience rain, we've realised, and we had no way of checking the weather without mobile data or phone signal in the area.
We made dinner in the shared cooking facilities and ate it there, before heading back to the tent and watching Monty Python: The Life of Brian on our laptops (Matt's died halfway through so mine had to finish it off!). It's a really funny film and getting more seasonally relevant as we get closer to Christmas, so even more reason to watch it again!
The rain just got harder and harder as the night drew on, so I'll leave this post on a bit of a cliffhanger...
Did we drown? Did we get washed away by the nearby stream? Who knows... until next time!
- Abi
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