Akaroa, NZ

Today is another small port. Really small. Population is 624.

Canterbury's oldest town, Akaroa was founded in August 1840 by French settlers. It has been suggested that French interest in New Zealand speeded up Britain's decision to annex New Zealand. By the time French settlers arrived, the Treaty of Waitangi between the British Crown and Māori chiefs had been signed.
The town still fills somewhat French. The street names, french cafes.

I forgot to mention it is a tender port, so by the time we got on land it was almost 10:00am. We had two things we wanted to see: The Giants House and Alpaca Farm.

Little information on the street told us the price of a taxi to Alpaca Farm is $120 and admission is $55pp. Although it’s NZ money, still we thought too expensive.
The little van to The Giants House was $15pp. We settle on that.
It is hard to describe what it is.
The house was built in 1880 and was named by a small girl looking up to it from the valley below, who said it was so big it must be the house of a Giant.

Now it is a little park with mosaic sculptures around the house. The sculptures created by the artist Josie Martin. She is a modern artist, painter and sculptor.
We really enjoyed this magnificent sculpture garden.

After walk in the gardens we stopped for a delicious lunch at french restaurant. We walked around small town, stopping at the stores and ice cream, walked to the lighthouse and back to the tender boat.Read more