Another bright sunny morning today, and very hot. We woke late (9.15am) but as we were staying here, it didn’t matter. We had planned to finish writing up yesterday’s blog and get it posted but as we still can’t get access to the net here, Tom had to come up with another cunning plan. He’s got a list of all the Zenbu active spots in NZ, and there are several in Christchurch. So, after having breakfast, we drove about 1km down the road and sat on a wall outside one of the other motels and logged on through their system so he could post the blog. However, you’ll have to wait again for the photos.
Then we drove to the railway station – well, to where the map showed it to be. Unfortunately, the map is out of date and there is now a huge shopping complex and they’ve changed the roads completely round it. As the station is the city’s main (in fact, only) one, you would think that it would be well sign posted and you would be wrong! We gave up eventually and asked a passer by where it was – we were only about 50m from it! But there were NO signs. Anyway, we got there and booked our trip on the Trans Alpine for Sunday then set off for Akaroa.
It’s another one of these roads that starts off nice and flat and not too winding and just when it’s lulled you into a false sense of security – boom – here come the bends and the ups and downs. And if we thought the bends we had experienced before were bad, they had nothing on this road!! Our poor little hire car is working very hard. It’s not very powerful, only 1300cc, and it holds up all these big SUV’s, some pulling trailers and/or boats who almost push you from behind urging you to get out of their way. Although the roads are narrow and winding once you’re out of the towns, there are lots of passing places thank goodness and road courtesy here dictates that if you’re holding up the traffic, you should pull over to let it pass. So we did, on numerous occasions.
About 15km from Akaroa, there is a café called the Hilltop
(I leave you to guess where it’s situated) and the view over the harbour is impressive. 
Akaroa is just visible in the distance but the access is then one of the steepest and most winding of the whole drive. Tom was OK – he had the steering wheel to hang on to – I got bruised elbows where I kept banging them on the door rest and the centre console and I had a headache from trying to keep upright while the car was negotiating all the bends! I don’t know if the return journey of three and a half hours was totally worth it. Back in 1840, a French expedition landed here and claimed the island for France, not realising that the Treaty had been signed by the British a few days earlier. Even though they were a few days late, they settled in the area. As a result, the village is very French and a lot of the houses and street names show this influence
although new buildings are very modern in style. Although Akaroa is very pretty (and we did get to have our photo taken at the cannon about which Pam Ayres has written a poem),
it was no prettier than some of the other small places we’ve seen elsewhere. We did have our first ice cream of the holiday there as it was roasting hot although not at all humid, and that was most welcome.
Just when we were thinking of leaving, a bank of cloud appeared and the wind suddenly got up, driving sand from the beaches up into the air and making us screw up our eyes to avoid being blinded. The weather then all the way back to Christchurch was cloudy and chilly – it does seem to change rapidly on the islands, much more so than in UK. We had decided to eat in the rooms tonight, so went to find the supermarket the owner said was just up the road…..nearly a kilometre later we found it!! It’s a very nice supermarket but loaded up with our provisions, we then had to walk all the way back and to top it all, it started to rain a little. Still, we had enough wine once we were back to dull the pain!
I went and put the latest lot of washing on while Tom tried to backup our photos so far onto disc. This is the third lot of discs he’s bought since we arrived, as the laptop didn’t want to recognise the first two. Although it seemed to be a success this time, when he tried to read the disc the laptop said it was blank. As with all technology, the laptop is now obsolete as it’s over 2 years old and has trouble reading the new fast discs. So we have all the still photos backed up onto the Epson and unless Tom can find some slow CD’s which he can use, you all have to hope that the Epson and the laptop make it safely back home.
Tom will go to the other motel where he can access the net tomorrow morning so he can post this latest addition to our blog, and in the meantime we’re off to bed. Night night all.
Then we drove to the railway station – well, to where the map showed it to be. Unfortunately, the map is out of date and there is now a huge shopping complex and they’ve changed the roads completely round it. As the station is the city’s main (in fact, only) one, you would think that it would be well sign posted and you would be wrong! We gave up eventually and asked a passer by where it was – we were only about 50m from it! But there were NO signs. Anyway, we got there and booked our trip on the Trans Alpine for Sunday then set off for Akaroa.
It’s another one of these roads that starts off nice and flat and not too winding and just when it’s lulled you into a false sense of security – boom – here come the bends and the ups and downs. And if we thought the bends we had experienced before were bad, they had nothing on this road!! Our poor little hire car is working very hard. It’s not very powerful, only 1300cc, and it holds up all these big SUV’s, some pulling trailers and/or boats who almost push you from behind urging you to get out of their way. Although the roads are narrow and winding once you’re out of the towns, there are lots of passing places thank goodness and road courtesy here dictates that if you’re holding up the traffic, you should pull over to let it pass. So we did, on numerous occasions.
About 15km from Akaroa, there is a café called the Hilltop
(I leave you to guess where it’s situated) and the view over the harbour is impressive. Akaroa is just visible in the distance but the access is then one of the steepest and most winding of the whole drive. Tom was OK – he had the steering wheel to hang on to – I got bruised elbows where I kept banging them on the door rest and the centre console and I had a headache from trying to keep upright while the car was negotiating all the bends! I don’t know if the return journey of three and a half hours was totally worth it. Back in 1840, a French expedition landed here and claimed the island for France, not realising that the Treaty had been signed by the British a few days earlier. Even though they were a few days late, they settled in the area. As a result, the village is very French and a lot of the houses and street names show this influence although new buildings are very modern in style. Although Akaroa is very pretty (and we did get to have our photo taken at the cannon about which Pam Ayres has written a poem), it was no prettier than some of the other small places we’ve seen elsewhere. We did have our first ice cream of the holiday there as it was roasting hot although not at all humid, and that was most welcome.Just when we were thinking of leaving, a bank of cloud appeared and the wind suddenly got up, driving sand from the beaches up into the air and making us screw up our eyes to avoid being blinded. The weather then all the way back to Christchurch was cloudy and chilly – it does seem to change rapidly on the islands, much more so than in UK. We had decided to eat in the rooms tonight, so went to find the supermarket the owner said was just up the road…..nearly a kilometre later we found it!! It’s a very nice supermarket but loaded up with our provisions, we then had to walk all the way back and to top it all, it started to rain a little. Still, we had enough wine once we were back to dull the pain!
I went and put the latest lot of washing on while Tom tried to backup our photos so far onto disc. This is the third lot of discs he’s bought since we arrived, as the laptop didn’t want to recognise the first two. Although it seemed to be a success this time, when he tried to read the disc the laptop said it was blank. As with all technology, the laptop is now obsolete as it’s over 2 years old and has trouble reading the new fast discs. So we have all the still photos backed up onto the Epson and unless Tom can find some slow CD’s which he can use, you all have to hope that the Epson and the laptop make it safely back home.
Tom will go to the other motel where he can access the net tomorrow morning so he can post this latest addition to our blog, and in the meantime we’re off to bed. Night night all.
2 comments:
Hugh says - Given the CD issues, have you thought about uploading your piccies to an on-line storage area? e.g. www.humyo.com offers 25Gb of free on-line storage or for £30 for a year 100Gb and other stuff. Not sure of upload times but ... might give you a secure way so no need to worry about losing data on the gadgets you've got with you?
Try a small computer store which looks owner operated but has internet access. They are usually helpful in downloading photos on to DVD/CDs and cheaper than say, photography stores.
The UK Cricket team is in Christchurch so watch out for the 'Barmy Army'!
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