Akoroa and Christ Church, NZ

Akoroa is nestled in the heart of an ancient volcano.  It is rich with beauitful bays.  Inland you see the unspoiled beauty of sparkling clear lakes, blue rivers, and rugged mountins they call the Southern Alps.  Our five hour excursion took us to Christ Church about 90 km from Akoroa.  There we were able to see the devastating damage done by an earth quake in 2013.  Much of the central business district was in shambles, even three years later.  186 people died in that earth quake.

In Christ Church we visited the Canterbury Museum and took a short breeze through.  One of the real treasures there was the house of Fred and Mrytle.  They both passed away in the early 2000's but they had spent their life decorating their house with over 11,000 polished shells they collected. Their house is called the Paua Shell House and perhaps if you google it, you too can see it. It was a real hoot!

Akaroa, a very beautiful harbor town.

This is an amazing display at the Canterbury Museum in Christ Church.

Fred and Mrytle

We also toured the beautiful botanical gardens. Now, here were the BEST gardens yet.  The hydrangas were the most gorgeous of all. Stay tuned for many many pics of the most amazing colors I have ever seen.

The excursion ended with a visit to Mandly sheep farm. There we had tea in their home which included lamb rolls and short bread cookies, fresh out of the oven.  They put on quite a dog and sheep show including the shearing of a sheep. It was a great stop.

Here is Jack rouning up the sheep after he went up the mountain to get them.

Views on the way back to Akoroa

Our tender ride back to the ship was really a ride!  Very rough in the bay.While waiting on the pier to get the tender, the cruise line provided hot towels to wrap up in. We were some of the last folks to board before the ship took off.

After dinner we took in the Hot Glass Show by Corning. They did some very elaborte glass blowing art. It was outside on the 15th deck and it was actualluy cold!  We had blankets on and even then we were cold.

Our day eneded with a great show by Scottish violinist Seonaid Aitkin. She sang, played the piano and fiddle and was just great. We have had WONDERFUL shows each and every night.