Akaroa

Akaroa is located a little more than half the way up the South Island.  Something about Akaroa makes me feel like we've finally reached New Zealand. Can't put my finger on it exactly but the last stop, Dunedin, just seemed like a small city anywhere.

We finally get some nice weather in Akaroa. Still a bit cloudy and cool but nice!

Today our ship is parked in the bay and we have to tender in.

Our ship looks little parked next to the Golden Princess which is a 2,600 passenger ship and once we got to shore we saw some of the ugliest tourists we'd ever seen. They must have come from this ship as there was  no other in the bay.

A larger shot...not a bad looking ship but good it had some ugly fuckers on it!

So basically what our excursion is today is a bus ride around the bay, then a visit to a Maori museum kind of  thing and then a visit to The Giant's House.

A shot of the shore taken from the ship.  I think this was as we were entering the bay as we can see the other ship in the distance.  It could just as easily be as were leaving the bay.  I should pay better attention or take notes or something.

The following shots were taken as our bus ride progressed around the bay.  Very beautiful country.

I can't remember why I took a shot of this monster. She (or he) was definitely from the other ship. God what a beast!

That's better!

The bus driver stopped to let us visit with some cows.

This was at the Maori museum.  These boats are huge and they still use them for ceremonies.

The tails have fantastic carvings.

The inside of the house where the blacksmith lived.

No TV, no internet....

More scenery on the way back to town.

We also stopped to have a meeting with these sheep. They were interested but not very talkative.

Back in town we visited The Giant's House.

The Giant's House is a normal house and yard the a kooky woman has turned into a tourist attraction.

We were told we could take all the pictures we wanted to outside but none in the house and none of her (the kooky woman).

So here she is...someone else took it - not me..

So just some of my pics from the Giant's House.

And a whole bunch more from Google.

And here's the website in case you'd like to visit...http://www.thegiantshouse.co.nz/

That's it for Akaroa.  Definitely visit when you're in the area.