Akaroa

Today we went to Akaroa, a small town on the ocean roughly an hour away from Lincoln University. It was such a beautiful drive and we stopped at a stone beach where we picked up New Zealand green stone which can be polished into gems. The beach was beautiful! I could have spent a whole day there alone looking for nice stones, skipping rocks and relaxing. You aren't supposed to swim there because the waves are really rough and the water will take you under really quickly because of the rock surface and rip tides but even without a swim it was still amazing. Then we stopped at a little town and went to local ice cream shop and walked around a bit taking pictures, playing on the playground and learning about the deer farming industry (yes, they farm deer!). After a nice break we all loaded back into the bus and continued up the mountains and down into Akaroa. The mountains were so beautiful and the roads were so windy and steep that I am amazed how buses can go up and down them with such ease! We stopped up at the top to take pictures with Akaroa behind us in the distance. Once in Akaroa we all ate our bagged lunches and set off on our day. I went sea kayaking, hiked some nature trails, sampled tea, had amazing fishing chips and had one of the best times. Sea kyaking was so cool! I have been kyaking before in lakes and rivers but never in an ocean. It was so much harder beceause not only was it windy but you also frequently battling the waves from the boats. We all ended up wet, covered in salt and some of us a little bit burnt but it was well worth the $20! Once we relaxed for a little bit by barefoot tea tasting we set off to look for hiking trails. Most of us were just wearing sneakers or flip-flops so we weren't looking for anything intense and we found a set of trails called the Garden of Tane that went through the woods and had many exotic trees. It was a beautiful and laid back walk with lots of funny pictures, laughs and an old playground. After a fairly high activity day we all were ready for some dinner. We went to one of the highest ranked fish and chips shops in New Zealand and it was so delicious! You got so much food for only $10 and most of us couldn't finish all of our chips (french fries). Before we left we made sure to sample some new drinks and we all chipped in and bought some pitchers and shared them so we were all able to try a bunch of things. Today set the bar so high for all of our trips but I think we can top it!

 

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