Akaroa, Thursday 17 February.







Akaroa Harbour with cloud trying and failing to spill over the surrounding 2000ft peaks



Today is the first of 4 clear days I have at Akaroa a small town on a bay of a large harbour/inlet which goes into the middle of the Banks Peninsular. The harbour was formed by the flooding of a former volcanic crater and is almost surrounded by 2000ft hills. The area is in considerable contrast to the great flat expanse of the Canterbury plains in all other directions.

Akaroa was originally settled by the French and has retained French street names but its current residents are very much English speaking New Zealanders. It is a pretty small quiet town though with a lot of tourists. There are a lot of choices for bike routes during my stay with some very scenic and hilly roads in the area.

Today is a proper off the bike rest day. I made use of the motels guest laundry facility, caught up on emails and wandered round the harbour. Weather was sunny with some cloud and temperatures getting up to 26C.