Akaroa A Taste of Old France in New Zealand

.Now enroute to Akaroa and through some of the most beautiful countryside you will even see.
Our trusty Lonely Planet suggested that a stop for breakfast at Emma’s in Oamaru.
But Oamaru is a slow town to start up. At 7.50 most places were closed.
Disappointed but still hungry we spotted a bakery a few doors down.
You must go there
“Temptations”
74 Thames Street
Oamaru
I had a sensational bacon and egg roll
Dale had a freshly made vego sandwich Beetroot, egg on
Molenberg Bread
Food to go!

Awamoku your next property?
Duntroon

More Churches

Dams A lot of these small towns have wonderful signs

Now here is an interesting town. Built in 1968 purely to house the power plant construction workers.
Much vilified – rows of little boxes just like these…all planned to be pulled down at the end of the project. But the residents objected and they pulled together and the town lives on and seems to be a thriving community. They are rebuilding he town square

We have found on this road trip that unlike New York City you can get excellent coffee anywhere in New Zealand for example we had excellent coffee at Shawtys in Twizel… highly recommended for travelers.
As we drove through this amazing Mackenzie country the old Who song came to mind “You can see for Miles and Miles” and you can. It is awe inspiring
Classic mountain ranges, salmon farms, and the bluest lakes you could ever see.
I love these mad watering systems they look like aliens Can you imagine what these mountains look like when there really is snow on them? And the jewel in the South Island Crown - Aoraki Mt Cook. The highest mountain in Australasia Have you ever seen anything so gorgeous

Onto Lake Tekapo

The Church of the Good Shepherd to the left and to the right a monument of a Sheep Dog which is in memory of the hardy mustering dogs “without the help of which the grazing of this mountainous country would be impossible.”
It was swarming with tourists but I managed to get a quick shot without them and then fled the convoy of buses.

So as Shakespeare didn’t say. “Lead on MacDuff”

Fairlie “The Gateway to the Mackenzie Country” for lunch. We are now exiting Mackenzie Country through Fairlie
But once again prompted by the Lonely Planet we ate at The Old Library Café

Whitebait Yea!!!
A stack
Potato pancake,

a bulging whitebait fritter,

salad,

cold smoked salmon and all topped with another potato pancake
With a citron vinaigrette
An outstanding lunch $30 each but well worth it
Just in case you didn’t know Fairlie is situated?

After Geraldine take highway 72 and through Ashburton Forks – Rakaia - onto beautiful Akaroa.

This is all a lot to take in - in one day probably in one reading as well!!!

This the view from the Hilltop Café who promised Great coffee and did deliver.
So down the hill and into this charming little town

A French whaling Captain Jean Langlois negotiated the purchase of this area and “raced” back to France but while he was away gathering settlers, the old British panicked and sent their own warship and claimed the area under the Treaty of Waitangi…so when the French…returned bad luck...they missed out. But they did settle anyway, thank God as they developed the place with French Style. Which accounts for Akaroa being the charming little village that greeted us. And as it turned out all the settlers got on famously.
Now to digress just a little…Graham Heinz is descended from Jean Langlois. Jean’s daughter Lucretia married Heinzie’s Great Great Grandad Isaac Cooksley. So that was exciting news. What a pedigree
But back to the town on the advice from John Wallace we hunted down L’Hotel

Situated on the corner of Beach and Church Rds a perfect place to stay
Then deal was good $170 per night and that included dinner. A starter and a main course each. The menu was inviting and so was Gordon the Host, so we stayed
Good view

Had a little Nana nap it had been a long journey
Bottle of No 8 and a game of Scrabble

Down to dinner
We ordered our food but it seemed they forgot about us, we polished off a bottle of wine and still hadn’t been fed. But we met nice people Linda and Neil from the North Shore.

The food finally arrived. I took photos too late so I won’t show you…there is nothing less appetizing than half eaten whole flounder…but it shaped up fairly well
Anyhow we were becoming pretty cheerful as the wine flowed
The music was from part of our era and we were all starting to sing along.
Then the discovery of the year.
The song which probably will become our anthem in a decade or so.

Cole Porter’s Where or When

It seems we stood and talked like this before

We looked at each other in the same way then

But I can't remember where or when

The clothes you're wearing are the clothes you wore

The smile you are smiling you were smiling then

But I can't remember where or when

Some things that happen for the first time

Seem to be happening again

And so it seems that we have met before

And laughed before

and loved before

But who knows where or when

Perfect don’t know why we hadn’t thought of the significance before.
Hope it doesn’t come back to bite me on the bum in the future!!!

If it does I won't remember
It was time for bed.
We woke up to this lovely sight

Off for a wander and breakfast
Dale has now embraced this eating with drinking culture of mine. It will show eventually as it already has on me. But he can worry about that later.

Bully Hayes and excellent choice for breakfast.
We walked the breakfast off
Everywhere you go it’s a photo opportunity
Looking back into town

Some images of beautiful Akaroa

The Maori

The French

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The Freemasons Lodge

And more of these superb colonial buildings

I did manage to get pictures of our dinner the second night
Starter we shared Bruschetta

I had an excellent steak and mushrooms

And Dale had Parmesan encrusted fish

We were so full and had to walk it off
The pier is lovely

So goodbye Akaroa and off early in the morning for Kaikoura and final South Island destination Blenheim.

I would award this establishment
♥♥♥♥♥
Divine view, good bed, Shower so so, couldn’t close the door is you wanted to keep your hair dry but made up for that with proximity to restaurants and good food.