Bon Accord Akaroa

AKAROA, BANKS PENINSULA, Feb. 8 to 10 -- If the French ship had arrived at the Banks Peninsula just three days earlier, perhaps the South Island would have been singing the Marsellaise instead of pledging to the Queen of England. As a former copy editor, I cringe at using the word "unique," but in this case, the word is accurate. Akaroa, on the Banks Peninsula, is the ONLY community in New Zealand that was settled by the French instead of the English. The community still has a French flavor a...

I was quite happy to be leaving rainy, dull Dunedin and heading off somewhere new on Saturday morning. I packed up my (still very wet clothes) from the wildlife tour and got on the MagicBus to Oamaru. Oamaru is a sleepy little town, which apparently not many people deem worthy of a visit as me and Catherine were the only two people to get off the bus here! The hostel was very homely; it even had a log fire going in the lounge! We spent the afternoon looking around the town and in the evening ...

By chance, I was arriving back in Christchurch on the same day that Jeli from Nelson was touching down, so naturally we'd arranged to meet up. I'd recommended The Old Countryhouse to her and she was successfully booked in, whereas I had to stay elsewhere as there were no more vacancies when I called - charming! It didn't matter though because I got booked into Stonehurst which was closer to the city centre, meaning I had less distance to cover the next morning. I met Jeli in Cathedral Square ...

21st March Picked up the car, got some food from the supermarket and some supplies from The Warehouse such as tapes for the car stereo (no CD player!) and some blankets and warm clothing and then headed for Akaroa on the Bank Peninsula about one and a half hours drive from Christchurch. It was a really quaint old French village which we didn't have time to explore as it was raining and we eventually checked in to a little guesthouse called "Bon Accord" which was a comfortable and spacious roo...

our adventure in 'baby' (Peter Archer's '88 Toyota Corrolla) has been fantastic. we've logged over 2000km (1,200 miles) and she's running strong. we left the sand fly infested west coast with bug bites galore and have become pro's at scratching while sleeping. i know you all feel so much pity for us here, we needed to tug at your heart strings for a bit. we walked on the Franz Josef glacier (sorry Matty did not find your water bottle), which was interesting experience walking on ice with cram...

We finally made it out. We ended up on a very late flight out of Antarctica and arrived in Christchurch at about 4:00 a.m. By the time we got to our backpacker it was 5:00 (A.M. that is) and I was starting to be a bit cranky (overtired). Our first night (well, morning) was a little rough as they decided to put us in a room under the stairs and across from the community kitchen...duh! We were awaken at around 8:00 a.m. by excited backpackers cooking breakfast and getting ready for their days.....