Day Trip to Akaroa




Saturday we decided to meet up with Johnny, his sister Megan and her husband Sam to take an hour drive to Akaroa, a French settlement on the Banks Peninsula. It turned out to be more of a rollercoaster ride where all of us, including the driver, felt extremely car sick. The scenery was beautiful along the way though and the town was very quaint. A lot of the French style has been preserved in the architecture and the street names are all French. We were all attempting to speak with a French accent and were referring to everything by placing a "Le'" in front of it...such as Le' bathroom or Le' gas station. We ended up walking up to the lighthouse that sits off to the side of town and meeting the lighthouse keeper. His name is Frank McNeil and he is one of the most fascinating people we have ever met. He is 88 years old, sings in a choral group, was taken as a prisoner of war by Germany in WWII for three years, and now serves as the lighthouse keeper in Akaroa. We talked to him (or should I say he talked to us) for over an hour; he even sang us a few Irish ballads. Needless to say, we told him we would be back to take the tour of the lighthouse when summer arrived (this is when they open for tours). We had coffee and cake at the Hilltop Cafe before driving back. That night we ate Chinese food and watched the movie "8 Below", about a team of sled dogs in Antarctica, part of which is filmed in Christchurch.

Sunday Blaine and I got adventurous and decided we were going to jog up to the Sign of the Kiwi, which is at the top of the Cashmere Hills. When you hear hill, most Mississippians think a little rolling hill; this however was more of a mountain. We of course did not make it all the way running but we still felt a sense of accomplishment when it was all said and done. Afterwards we attended church and had a nice relaxing afternoon. All in all, a short but pleasant weekend.