Friday, April 20th, 2012: Akaroa, New Zealand
Bob: The Sea Princess had already entered the headlands of the long bay on which Akaroa was located before dawn, and by the time we awakened we were already hearing the rumbling of the lifeboats being lowered for tender service. Since we just were going to take the tender onshore and then wander around the small town of Akaroa, we were in no hurry to get ashore. Instead, we ate a leisurely breakfast in the Horizon Café on the Lido deck, returned to our room to get our walking gear, and went down to the Rigoletto dining room for a tender ticket. That ticket turned out to be a regular raffle ticket, and they called us by the last three digits. Once I understood that they were using a 100-seat lifeboat and a 150-seat lifeboat for tendering ashore, I saw the wisdom of that arrangement. By using sequentially-numbered raffle tickets they could call the exact number of people that would fit in the departing lifeboat. Smart! The bay was very calm as we tendered in and I took some nice shots of the ship outlined against the hills on the far side of the bay. The town of Akaroa was not that big but boasted a fine, semi-circular waterfront stretching from a beautiful old lighthouse on the right to some hills on the left. |
Monika: We went up to the Lido deck as we were steaming into Akaroa Bay and I was enchanted. The whole bay is surrounded by light green hills, with dark stands of woods scattered here and there. The sun was peeking out between the clouds and creating interesting images of light and dark. We kept taking pictures, single and panoramic, until the ship came to a stop and let out the anchor, since this was a tender port. We quickly had breakfast (lots of protein for walking) and got ready to go into town. After picking up our tender tickets in the Rigoletto dining room, we had to wait about 15 minutes, but then we were ready to roll. The lifeboat ride into town was pleasant with very little wave action. |
Bob: Once ashore we began following the street along the bay, Beach Drive, over to the lighthouse. We paid $2 NZ each for entry, but that included a postcard made of solid wood, the first time I had ever seen such a thing. I'm not sure you could actually mail such a thing in the U.S., but I took it home with us and it ultimately ended up as centerpiece of the wood case for my mini-Ipad that I made the following winter! We enjoyed climbing up to the lookout platform just below the light assembly. The lighthouse was a mid-1800s version with a mechanical, weight-driven, clockwork-type drive to move the light and Fresnel lens assembly on top. The period between flashes was 10 seconds, and I found out that the weight had to be cranked to the top every 90 minutes day and night! That's why they had two keepers stationed out on the headland with the lighthouse in the old days! It was great just to see antique gear like that functioning perfectly. I tried cranking it up a bit and that was not onerous, but doing it every 90 minutes day and night must have been a drag. |
Monika: Akaroa is one of the two gateways to Christchurch. Lyttleton, where we had docked last time, was also damaged in the earthquake in 2011 that destroyed a good part of Christchurch. We had been to Christchurch during Wanderung 22, and both decided that it would be too painful to go again and see all the destruction. So we decided to spend the day in Akaroa. The town reminded me in some ways of Qaqortoq in Greenland (Wanderung 18): A charming little town with beautiful landscape all around. Ah, but here was the difference: the landscape around Qaqortoq was barren, mainly stone, with a few very, very low bushes. Here the landscape was lush and green with meadows and forests, more like Ireland or the Lake District of England. And as I felt in the latter two areas: wherever you looked there was a view worthy of a postcard. Having the ship, brilliant white in the sunshine, posed against this background was truly beautiful. Of course, we kept trying to get the very, very best picture; after all digital pictures are cheap. We decided to first walk along the shore over to the lighthouse. This lighthouse had been brought to the edge of town, when it was no longer needed at the entrance to the bay. It was open to the public, and our two dollar entrance fee also gave us a postcard. The mechanism for rotating the Fresnel lens was still operating. In the lighthouse it had to be wound every 90 minutes. The weight descended from the bottom of the lens down to the entrance. Now they are letting visitors wind it whenever one feels like it. Of course, Bob felt like it. The Fresnel lens itself was right there. I really had never been that close to one and enjoyed taking pictures of it. But oh, the view from the balcony that surrounded the lighthouse was great. You could see the town nestled in the hills at the end of the bay, and the white cruise ship lying at anchor out in the bay. Picture time, of course. |
Bob: We purchased some more postcards on our way out and walked through the woods across the street up the hill where we found an old cemetery. There the damage caused by the recent series of earthquakes was unfortunately apparent; many headstones had been overturned and some of them even shattered into pieces due to falling on the concrete gravesites. How sad it all looked! But the grounds were being maintained, so I suppose they plan to eventually restore it all. We continued on around the headland to a monument dedicated to the ship Britomart that brought an English Governor to declare English sovereignty on the South Island just a few days before French settlers arrived in 1840. The French settled after swearing fealty to Britain, and many of the streets in Akaroa had French names such as Rue Jollie and Rue Lavaud. From the monument we had a great view of the Sea Princess floating out in the bay. The Sea Princess was painted all in white, and when the sunlight hit it directly it fairly gleamed, which was in stark contrast to the green hills on the far side of the bay and the dark blue waters of the bay itself. Very pretty! |
Monika: From the lighthouse we walked up the hill to the Anglican cemetery. It was sad to see that some of the tombstones had fallen over, others even broken into pieces during the earthquake that destroyed a good part of Christchurch. A little farther away was the cemetery for the dissenters (my guess is non-Anglicans) and Catholics. We walked just up the hill to get to the "Britomart" monument. The Britomart monument is an obelisk commemorating the settling of the town. The Brits knew the French were coming and wanting to settle this area. So an English ship the Britomart managed to get here 7 days before the French ship arrived and raise the Union Jack, which still flies over the monument. Thus this area became the Canterbury region, and Christchurch the quintessential English town with a river Avon with punting boats on it. But the French did settle here, and the streets are called Rue, and we could see the French flag next to a few houses. |
Bob: Continuing down to the shore, we walked along the "beach" back to the lighthouse. In this case the beach was a strand of black rocks about the size of tomatoes and potatoes, and walking on that turned out to be quite difficult as we were constantly trying not to turn an ankle. Near the lighthouse we crossed the road and re-entered the woods. Although only two paths were marked on my map of Akaroa, there was actually a network of trails ranging all over those parklands, and none of it was signposted. Nevertheless, we figured we would either come out at the beach again, up on top of the hill, or at the edge of the park, so we just kind of chose the mid-level trail rather than the uphill or downhill routes whenever it branched. |
Monika: From the monument, we walked down to the beach road and along a very stony beach back to the lighthouse. There were little dinghies pulled up on the shore all along and sailboats at anchor in the water. Just past the lighthouse we started walking uphill into the forest. There were several trails cutting through the forest, some lined with old trees, some had newer growth. We stopped at a lookout, and there Ian and Judith, our tablemates, came through the forest from the other side. We chatted a little bit and then they kept going on towards the lighthouse, while we walked back towards the city. |
Bob: That strategy worked well and we eventually exited on Rue Jolie, which we followed to the main part of town. Akaroa proper is strung out along the bay a bit, so we followed the shoreline as we wandered along, looking at shops. We bought some wine for the trip across the Pacific as well as some snacks, and then stopped in a combination fudge and souvenirs shop. There we picked up a New Zealand Maori girl doll for Monika, to match the guy doll we had purchased on our last visit. We each also got Kiwi pins for our hats and patches for our jackets. |
Monika: The city was quite charming with mostly residential houses. Near the waterfront, there were more shops and restaurant. We stopped in a grocery store and stocked up on wine, since we were looking ahead to a long journey across the Pacific. In a little souvenir shop, I found a Maori girl doll to go with my Maori boy, I had picked up the last time we had visited New Zealand (Wanderung 22). |
Bob: At that point we were getting tired and also running out of NZ currency, so we headed back to the ship, having a light snack for lunch when we returned aboard so as to not spoil our dinner. Dinner was another pleasant conversation with our tablemates plus excellent cuisine, after which we listened to three tenors performing in the Princess Theater. They were good, but no match for Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, and Luciano Pavarotti, which is admittedly an impossible bar to top. The selection of songs, however, lacked variety as they all were sweetly sentimental. That may have fit the audience, but I like at the very least a bit of variety in tempo, energy, and topic matter, so overall I would just rate the performance as average. |
Monika: Now loaded down, we decided to head back to the ship, since we both were also getting hungry. On the tender, Bob snagged a place upstairs and took pictures. Once back on board, we had a belated light lunch, took some more pictures, and then rested before dinner After dinner, we went to a show of three tenors. They were ok, but not great. |
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