The Black Cat in Akaroa

A somewhat belated account of January 8th

(now known as the last day of freedom before the arrival of Ella the monster munchkin)

I went dolphin watching with my mom, on the Black Cat at Akaroa. All in all it was pretty damn cool. Obviously, I took lots of pictures (on my new digicam... wooh!), not all of them good. Fortunately I have, after many torturous hours, managed to sort through the riff raff.

Quant little church, don't you think? Doesn't the water look great? I feel like a swim!

Ooh... spot the seals! Seagulls are so graceful when they aren't making a racket!

Probably my two favourite shots of the day!!

Not only is the French town of Akaroa beautiful. There are also some really great views along the way, but I think they were all made even better by the fact that we were lucky enough to go on a sunny day with blue skies galore. But then the sun makes most things look better, don't you think?

Rural life... cows a plenty.

If you're in Christchurch then a visit to Akaroa is well worth the effort. It's only an hour and a half away after all. But a word of warning, if you don't like heights and you're not a confident driver then Akaroa might not be for you, because the journey from Christchurch, is kinda freaky. Lots of twists and turns, and for the most part pretty damn steep, kinda like a rollercoaster really, perhaps not the Colloseus though. Phew! (Bear in mind, however, that I am prone to mild exagerration. What can I say, it's a character flaw I guess.) I mean I like heights, but I think the journey might have made me a little nervous; especially if I was in a hire car with no camera or magazine to distract me (obviously I wasn't driving, I mean I can multi-task, but not that well!! Besides I'm the designated map reader. Although it's pretty much one road from Christchurch to Akaroa, so it wasn't exactly a challenge.)

~ Bella Vista ~

Tiny little river running under the road.

Driving through the trees....

Akaroa harbour Some more views from the boat, taken whilst in transit... (Don't you just wanna dive in?!)

Okay so maybe I went a little photo mad at the time. But (a) who wouldn't go a little crazy when surrounded by such natural beauty. And (b) it was my first ever digi-cam, I was entitled to a little craziness... Right?