This week one of our New Zealand travel specialists, Holly, reminisces about Akaroa - a little French enclave on the far side of the world...
Over the Port Hills and far away… you’ll find charming little Akaroa. Originally Akaroa was a French settlers town and a port for ships bringing immigrants seeking the New Zealand gold rush and hope of a future unknown, and I found it now to be an attractively petite town on Banks Peninsula, just an hours picturesque drive from Christchurch. As you draw over the final hill, the Akaroa Harbour spreads itself beneath you with its small waves winking playfully in the sun, and while you descend the winding path to sea level, the road evens out and leads you through the min uscule little settlements lining the bay. The names and quaint architecture of these tiny patchwork hamlets and farms still pay homage to their continental ancestry and even Akaroa itself curves around the shores of ‘French Bay’.
Having visited in both summer and winter I would have to say it’s a town that simply flourishes in the warmer months, when the days are sun-lavished, long and lazy and the sparkling waters play host to boats around the harbour shooting jet skiers out behind them, and the small flocks of kayakers that serenely float their way around the bay. I can still feel the memory of my gigantic fresh fruit ice cream dripping gently down its cone and covering my fingers as we wandered across the sandy beaches catching whiffs of fresh grass and wiggling my toes into the gritty sand.
The towns focal point, other than its French ancestry, is very much the marine resources it has just on its door step; marine life flourishes in the harbour like the White-flippered Penguins and miniature hector dolphins (one of the rarest dolphin species in the world and endemic to New Zealand) that gather and play at the mouth of the harbour, and even the jewellery produced in Akaroa is aquatic being produced mostly from famous New Zealand Paua Shell or Blue Pearl, but there are plenty of things to do without getting your feet wet too. The attractive parade of shops along the waterfront are a great place to find souvenirs and relax in a café for lunch.
For the quirky art lovers, or just those who enjoy afternoon tea with a difference, the Giants House Artists Garden is a must, with its mosaic-ed citizens lounging and lolling across the grounds, and surreal sculptures littering the grass. The steep hills and forests around the town are wonderful for walks among the green bush and fields, though be careful of wandering into private sheep fields!
My memories of Akaroa in the summertime sing out to me still, of afternoons spent baking happily in the sun and feeling the dappled shade of trees creeping across my shins as the day wore on. I recall it as being a lush green town, with blossoming gardens and plants elegantly poking their heads from any crevasse they could grow through, exquisite original Victorian homes and cottages, crisp oceanic breezes that caress your skin and the mouth-watering smell of fish and chips filling the evening air as the sun slips towards the horizon. It was, and remains, one of New Zealand’s star adornments in my eyes and enchants visitors with a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’.
