Akaroa

Akaroa sits far down a long inlet on Banks Peninsula, which is the flooded crater of an old volcano, so the water is deep and the hills rise steeply on both sides. A French colonising company landed settlers here in 1840; the venture was small and did not last long as a French enterprise, but the names stuck, and the village still runs along Rue Lavaud and Rue Jolie. The buildings are mostly modest nineteenth century timber cottages with verandahs and picket fences, shaded by old trees, with a lighthouse relocated from the harbour heads standing on the foreshore. Hector's dolphins, small and rare, live in the harbour and are the other reason most people come.

History

The name is Kāi Tahu Māori for "long harbour", and the earliest European settlers used Akaroa as a whaling base. In 1838 the French whaler Jean François Langlois made a questionable purchase of land from twelve Kāi Tahu chiefs and raised money in France for the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, whose settlers arrived in 1840 and called the place Port Louis-Philippe after the French king (Wikipedia, Akaroa).

What to look for

• Rue Lavaud and Rue Jolie - the French street names and the rows of colonial timber cottages.
• The Akaroa lighthouse - the small wooden tower moved in from the harbour heads to the foreshore.
• The harbour - the drowned crater with steep hills falling straight into deep water.
• The Garden of Tane - the wooded reserve and old cemetery on the hill behind the village.

When to go

Summer is warm and the harbour is at its calmest in the morning, which matters for dolphin trips. Cruise ships call on some days and the village goes from quiet to packed within an hour, so it is worth checking the schedule and picking a clear day. Autumn is a good compromise of weather and space. Book harbour cruises ahead in January.

Things to know

The French branding is thinner than the marketing suggests: the colony was brief and the architecture is overwhelmingly British colonial with French labels attached. On cruise days the main street is shoulder to shoulder and parking is hopeless. Prices sit well above what a village this size would otherwise charge. The road over the hills is steep and tightly wound, and passengers prone to car sickness suffer on it.

Nearby

The Banks Peninsula bays, Okains Bay and the summit road back towards Christchurch all branch from the same route.

Key facts