It really sank that our time in NZ was coming to an end when we rolled into Christchurch. As we still had the car for another day and there was gas in the tank (errrm I mean petrol)we only stopped off briefly before heading to Akaroa (80 km away). While in Christchurch there were plenty of activities taking place in the central plaza in honour of the Buddha's birthday. Not sure how old he would've been. There were dancers, singers, oriental food stalls, origami lessons, baby blessings & offerings to the Buddha taking place all around the square.
The road to Akaroa is very scenic as it twists & winds it's way over and around hills offering amazing landscape vistas. We booked into a lovely little lodge in the centre of town & went exploring. It seems like there is simply no escaping Shackleton & his crew because it wasn't long before we came across a statue of Frank Worsley. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the story of the Endurance this is the man who managed to navigate the James Caird lifeboat 800 miles across some of the unforgiving waters in the world to arrive safely on South Georgia Island (Tom Crean was also part of the 5man team that made the crossing). It is considered to be one of the greatest navigational feats of all time. Well, it turns out that Frank was born and raised in Akaroa. Akaroas's other claim to fame, apart from it's incredible setting on Banks peninsula, is that the French came & colonised this region of NZ. So instead of streets there are rues and there is a distinctly Frenchy feel to the place. That night we watched Monty Python's meaning of life & enjoy some "world famous" fish & chips. With all the world famous fish & chip shops in NZ you'd have thought someone would've heard of them.
And with that we drove back into Christchurch, dropped off the rental car and kissed goodbye to our carefree travelling days. Trains, planes and long distance bus journeys for us from now on.
Frank Worsley
No comments:
Post a Comment