Akaroa, South Island, New Zealand 6th March 2023

We left Singapore on Thursday evening and after an almost ten hour flight arrived into Christchurch, New Zealand.  We were stopped at immigration as there is currently an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Indonesia and Singapore, and our luggage was searched and all footwear was taken away to be disinfected, and then we had to walk through a footbath before we were allowed to leave the airport.  We spent a couple of days in Christchurch, the capital of South Island but which felt more like a small market town in the UK.  Most of our time there was spent shopping as there were a few bits we needed although that wasn't easy because the shopping malls were limited in both size and stock.  Maldon High Street would have been more forthcoming!  One of the highlights of Christchurch was finding Dosa Kitchen where we had a fairly authentic Masala Dosa.

Yesterday morning we picked up a rental car and drove through the pouring rain to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula.  Our penthouse studio apparently overlooks the sea but when we arrived, visibility was so poor that we had no idea what we overlooked.  However this morning we awoke to glorious sunshine and the views became apparent (the first photo is from our studio).  After breakfast we headed down to Akaroa Dolphins and collected our pre-booked tickets for a two hour wildlife spotting cruise.  There's a photo of Buster, the dolphin-spotting dog (the only one of us who had to wear a life jacket) who accompanied us on the trip although there was little evidence that he did much in the way of spotting dolphins but rather soaked up the affection of any passenger who would pet him.  We were lucky enough to see Hector's Dolphins, the world's smallest oceanic dolphin, an endangered species and this is one of the few places in the world that they can be seen.  We also saw white-flippered penguins (remember this species as we hope to see other penguins during this trip!); plus fur seals basking on the rocks.  

After lunch we walked up to Rhino Point which was a good uphill one hour hike with far reaching views over bays on either side of the peninsula.  On the way up, Sue got stung by a bee and her hand blew up like a balloon, and then on the way back down she slipped in the mud and landed on her backside.  No damage done but the shorts and tee shirt had to be laundered on our return.