South Island Itinerary: Akaroa

Even though the French-themed town of Akaroa (45 minutes south of Christchurch) is quite small and mostly consists of a few tourist shops and cafes, it is well worth going on the harbor and dolphin cruises there. This was my second time out, and with sunny weather and two playful Hector's dolphins, it can't really be beat for a good afternoon.

 

Swimming with Dolphins in Akaroa

We had visitors in town so had the opportunity to show them around the South Island and Sydney. Not everyone is into the extreme adventure activities that the tourism industry likes to tout, so I had the challenge of finding fun outdoor things that were low-key and planning around the busy tourism season with accommodation and bookings. Overall their trip went well in spite of the off and on New Zealand weather.

First we went to Akaroa to go swimming with dolphins. The harbor has one of the world's smallest one, the Hector's dolphin, which has a silver body and black stripe and rounded fins. We spotted lots of them in different pods and saw several babies which were very cute. It was a beautiful, clear day with sunshine and warmth, so even though the dolphins weren't interested in getting super close to us, we got to see them near us in the water a few times. We also had a harbor tour included and saw blue penguins, seals, an albatross, and beautiful rock formations (that looks like Mars). We went for fish and chips afterward and went home after a full day out.

blue penguins

Hector's dolphins

 

cormorants/shags on the rocks

seals

albatross

Happy New Year 2015

Happy 2015! I hope to explore lots of New Zealand this year.

The package from my family arrived with a much-welcomed array of goods. There was a veritable bounty of shelf medications like allergy medicine, cold/flu liquid tablets, motion sickness pills, and pain relief pills which would have been a fortune here or not available. This would have been enough on its own, but there were also some Christmas gifts and food from home which we enjoyed.

We also received our IRD numbers from the government so they can take out taxes. Yay. If there's anything to be excited about here, it is that one of my favorite numbers is the last two digits.

I made a goal of finishing all six Dune books before the year ended, and so I wrapped up the sixth book on December 30th, just in time. Reading them all together in a short time period meant that I could notice changes in style, character development, themes, and other things which was nice. Now comes the harder part of synthesizing all of my observations into the PhD proposal. Basically, I have to outline what my argument will be and what each chapter of the paper will focus on. I also have to provide a literature review, meaning an analysis of what has been written about the topic so far and what I think I will do to improve upon current research.

I also just finished 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) yesterday. It was not what I was expecting and seems a bit out-dated now that we have so much more information about our solar system than we did then. There were virtually no women in it, and it got really weird at the end. I continue to be surprised by how different the short classics are from Dune. The lack of world-building is so apparent, and the intent and goals of the writers seem to be very different.

We had a nice New Year's Eve with a live music concert in the central park sponsored by the city council. There were country, rock/funk, and Celtic bands who provided good music and energy to ring in the new year. There is an interesting tradition of having the "archwizard of Canterbury" cast a spell for the new year. He seems to be an equivalent to our old Father Time. There was also a sweet fireworks show right above our heads - the closest I've ever been to fireworks. Debris was even raining down on our heads!

D's jalapeno plant on the porch finally has some peppers ripening red. It has been fun to watch them grow and hopefully they are worth the wait.

We took a day trip to Akaroa, which is about 90 minutes south of Christchurch. It was a nice drive and a cute town, although it was overrun by tourists from the docked Princess Cruises ship. It was quite hot out, so we had a packed lunch in the shade and checked out the farmer's and craft markets. We also visited the Barrys Bay Cheese factory which still makes cheese the old-fashioned way. We watched workers spiking big cheese rounds with long metal sticks which will leave air holes and create the blue veins in blue cheese. D bought some 6-year aged cheddar cheese and garlic cheese. Both are good, and the aged cheddar is super intense!

strange "field" of trees on a bare hillside