Losing track of the time

As above :)

A chilling night

We stayed for a night in Akaroa without checking into a holiday park, which means parking just off the road. It was raining heavily and freezing cold, those kind of damp cold night. Since we parked just beside the sea bay, we are expose to even colder sea breeze.

I am glad we managed to tide over the night. We even bought a new Possum bed sock to protect from future night coldness.

Lighthouse, the bay and the town

Today is a lazy day where we soak ourselves in Akaroa town, traveling by foot most of the time. We visited the landmark lighthouse, which is a necessity or seaside town to guide their fishermans around the bay.

Slow and very easy, seems like a good choice for retirement - most we see are either fellow campervan-ers or retirees.

Went to giant house, when we don't even know what it is, but was closed when we reached.

Pictures below. Enjoy the town!

Annoy

That's exactly what I think :)

Linus' toys

I bet Linus will love all these! Enjoy!

Gone fishing @ Bully Hayes

In the midst of savouring.

We decided to have a proper meal in Akaroa and thus chose Bully Hayes Bar & Cafe. We ordered a seafood platter with chargrilled bread to share and it was an excellent dinner! Gone fishing and back!

Taste - 8.5/10 (9 if you love seafood)
Ambience - 8/10
View - 9/10 (sunset view over the mountain and bay)
Cost - 7.5/10 (total bill is less than $40 for 2)

Roles

For some reasons, the roles were swapped from initial assignment.

When driving:
Koh Leng Leng - captain (maps and navigation), stewardess (food and drinks)
Tan Ruoyu - second officer (driving)

When cooking:
Tan Ruoyu - master cook (approve what to eat and supervise), washer (wash plates generally), helper
Koh Leng Leng - first cook (primary cooker)

Akaroa

Akaroa, once a French town, lies just 90mins drive southeast of Christchurch. It's surrounded by mountains and sea, still preserving it's French culture in terms of food and building.

It's a quiet little town with little people on the street, perhaps due to the winter period. Seems like a summer holiday place to Christchurch people, due to the close proximity. You will have to travel up the mountain and down the slopes to get here.

Some eatery closes in winter.

It seems to be raining for the 2 days we get here. So please bring an umbrella to avoid wet weather disappointment!

Convenience shops - prices is estm to be about twice as expensive you can find in Christchurch Park'N Save.

Price of the house isn't cheap here, around $400k and above.

A breezy romantic walk down the Beach Road from Rue Lavard Road is recommended, summer is better - although with your love one holding hand in hand by your side during winter is still enough to warm your hands.



Rainbow

There's always a rainbow after a rain. Sometimes, you just have to pay more attention to the surrounding to find it.

Lepak @ L'Escargot Rogue

Recommended as it serves all day French style deli. Great when you are tired walking from the lighthouse and looking for a place to rest for tea break.

Try a pot of English breakfast for 2 and a Pain au Chocolat to share. Top it up with a packet of toffee biscuit for the sweet tooth.

Taste - 8.5/10
Ambience - 9/10 (by the Akaroa bay)
Cost - 8/10 (less than $20 for 2)

Seaside Birdlings Flat

We came to a random beach along the way and enjoyed the sea breeze. It was just like what a NZ friend told me. You can literally see a patch of area raining with your area not raining.

Black swans. Rock pebbles, unyielding trees. Rainy day.

How to stand out from the rest. Be different.

Be unyielding, yet stand against the rest.

The restaurant @ Rossendale

A nice little winery, we were thinking even to go in or not, since it is still far from our destination, Akaroa. Red wine are selling $39 for 3 bottles and there was quite a crowd inside.

Since I still need to drive, in the end we did not enter at all.

Mobile settled

Both of mobiles are settled with credits and data plans pre-loaded. That's considered something completed and we chose 2 degrees.

Feel free to whatsapp us as we are now with data plan!

International Antarctic Center

Welcome to Christchurch, gateway to Antarctica! But not exactly here - we are at one of the tourist attraction to see penguins, the International Antarctic Center.

We did not enter since we have a really tight budget, and it's closing time at 5pm (again).

Well, at least we spent on something there, getting postcards and stamps :)

Nice place, but strictly for tourist or people willing to spend ($65 per adult).