last night we made an inspired decision to run out to akaroa on our way back south to omakau and the reilly family, it meant basically an 85km trip out there and then a similar backtrack to the main road to run down to timaru for our last night away.
it was inspired because akaroa turned out to be one of the most beautiful spots we visited on this trip, not just the picturesque little former french colony, and its quaint shops and buildings, but the incredible scenery around there. we drove up into the mountains behind the town that are the rim of the extinct volcano and they were some of the steepest roads I have ever driven.
i suspect the cows and sheep have longer legs on one side to enable them to stand upright, none of the photos do justice to the vertical drop offs, often we could not see the terrain on the downhill side, it dropped away so sharply from the side of the road that it was as good as vertical.
from the top we could see the whole harbour on one side and the east coast bays on the other, the scenery was simply breathtaking.
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- looking across the harbour
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- the harbour
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- the village below
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- backtrack
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- sal hiding in the bushes at the summit
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- the east coast
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- akaroa harbour
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- coming back down
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- magnolias
i am going to make a separate post of the panoramas i shot of the area, they deserve a viewing on their own!