New Zealand Akaroa With Cameron 08Jan23

Ken enlisted Cameron, one of Ken's "brother's" kids ~ so his "nephew," to guide us around Akaroa - the volcanic peninsula across from Christchurch. It was a great outing, and I didn't even need to drive. Cameron is a 20 year old NZ Army officer in training, all military in NZ are just 6000 strong and deal mostly with natural disasters, though do come to aid allies in critical situations. We took Cameron's Skoda wagon (nice Audi-like one) all around. We took in vistas then stopped at a cafe at the pass. It had a weird flowering bush; we all had chips (fries) and lemon-lime-bitters seltzers ~ that's a go to drink in NZ during summer.

Moving on along to Akaroa the ridge line way we ultimately made it to town after some more stops. We ate lunch at the Bully Hayes Tavern and observed the harbor and a sailing race taking place on the weekend.

After lunch Cameron took us past his grandmother's place. While she's moved to a more convenient location in Christchurch, Cameron spent many a day out here and always relayed relevant quips. The Skoda made it's way all the way out Lighthouse (dirt) Road to the Head of Akaroa... we clamored further down a trail and out above a 2000 ft cliff above the sea. It was very cool and probably not all that intelligent.

 

Once recovering from the cliff spot we headed back via an alternative back road and caught many more vistas of Akaroa itself and the entire countryside. We stopped at the site of a British statue commemorating development of the area, and a Maori site memorializing a massacre at the hand of the Brits. Finally out here we were obliged to get the "Cameron's Track" selfie.

Once back nearer Christchurch we hit Fuse, a top purveyor of one of the keen tastes of NZ in the summer: real fruit ice cream. This concoction is prepared in real time by combining real fruit (often fresh), pulverized and mixed with soft serve ice cream... yummy.

It was a gr8 day with Cameron & Ken... good luck with the military mate.