Back in February when we headed to the South Island for the wedding of good friends of ours, we also added a couple night stay in a little town called Akaroa, sort of near Christchurch.
It's a little French settlement on the Banks Peninsula and quaint definitely describes it well. We had booked a B&B run by an older woman out of her 1920's or earlier house. The major attraction to Akaroa was the resident Hector's Dolphins that live in and around the peninsula.
Of course, we had to take a dolphin swimming trip.
We booked with a smaller operator and there were only 2 other people on the tour with us that day. Many years ago we took a trip to swim with the dolphins off Kaikoura and had an incredible time so we knew it would be worth it.
Although the swell was nearly 3m that day, the sun was shining and the dolphins were out in full force! If I didn't look out at the open sea, I was ok (hey we were on a little zodiac!). The dolphins don't hang around in packs as large as other species but groups of 2-5 seemed to be what we saw mostly.
We had several groups who were curious enough to approach or follow the boat so once we could tell they were comfortable, we got to jump in with them! The requisite silly noises ensued (I remember from our other trip that making noises could make them more curious and want to come check it out) and we had a great time just floating while dolphins whizzed past us left and right. The visibility wasn't too bad but you still couldn't see them coming until they were fairly close so you were always looking up and around for more approaching. I think we maxed out the allowable time with them and on the way back we got to see other wildlife like penguins!
So, twice lucky with dolphin swimming now, and if you're ever in Akaroa, we definitely recommend Ecoseaker that we took the tour with.
The rest of Akaroa was ok, it's quite picturesque. We found the dining to be so-so as most of the restaurants seemed to have pretty much the same menu. It's apparently become a cruise ship stop and we're just glad we didn't overlap with one because it's tiny there!
So, we didn't get up to a whole lot else aside from dolphins but we were happy with that. What a thrill it is!
It's a little French settlement on the Banks Peninsula and quaint definitely describes it well. We had booked a B&B run by an older woman out of her 1920's or earlier house. The major attraction to Akaroa was the resident Hector's Dolphins that live in and around the peninsula.
Of course, we had to take a dolphin swimming trip.
We booked with a smaller operator and there were only 2 other people on the tour with us that day. Many years ago we took a trip to swim with the dolphins off Kaikoura and had an incredible time so we knew it would be worth it.
Although the swell was nearly 3m that day, the sun was shining and the dolphins were out in full force! If I didn't look out at the open sea, I was ok (hey we were on a little zodiac!). The dolphins don't hang around in packs as large as other species but groups of 2-5 seemed to be what we saw mostly.
We had several groups who were curious enough to approach or follow the boat so once we could tell they were comfortable, we got to jump in with them! The requisite silly noises ensued (I remember from our other trip that making noises could make them more curious and want to come check it out) and we had a great time just floating while dolphins whizzed past us left and right. The visibility wasn't too bad but you still couldn't see them coming until they were fairly close so you were always looking up and around for more approaching. I think we maxed out the allowable time with them and on the way back we got to see other wildlife like penguins!
The rest of Akaroa was ok, it's quite picturesque. We found the dining to be so-so as most of the restaurants seemed to have pretty much the same menu. It's apparently become a cruise ship stop and we're just glad we didn't overlap with one because it's tiny there!
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| After the second earthquake, I don't think a lot of the headstones were stabilized again, a bit of an eerie graveyard in that sense. |
So, we didn't get up to a whole lot else aside from dolphins but we were happy with that. What a thrill it is!
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