Fotoeins Fotografie

It’s a cool grey morning in Christchurch, and I’m waiting outside the Canterbury Museum for a ride to Akaroa. Will the conditions improve by the time I arrive?

I’ve signed up with French Connection for the shuttle between Christchurch to Akaroa along State Highway 75. As the bus rolls onto the Banks Peninsula, the undulating hills gently rise and fall around the entire horizon. Some of the secluded bays and harbours look steep enough to have been carved by mini-glaciers. It makes a lot of sense, as Akaroa means “long harbour” in Kāi Tahu Māori.

It’s easy to forget Akaroa has French history and roots, but I realize I’m standing on top of an extinct volcano which last saw activity about 6 million years ago. Over time, weather eroded and gradually removed the top layers of the volcano. The post-glacial meltdown about 15,000 years ago saw the sea-levels rise and subsequently inundated the former caldera. It’s not the only extinct volcano around, as the nearby Lyttleton harbour was formed in a similar way.

I decide to go with a nature cruise on Black Cat cruises, and the catamaran heads out with six passengers and two crew. Within 30 minutes of leaving the dock in Akaroa, the skies clear as the breeze breaks and moves the clouds aside. Finally, in the open waters of the Pacific, the boat bobs gently in the light swell.

It’s a perfect sunny winter day, complete with the appearance of a pod of Hector’s dolphins and a couple of yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho).

But all too quickly, the cruise returns to the calm waters of the inner harbour, and the ship comes to a halt back in Akaroa. I’ll doze on the ride back to Christchurch, with lingering memories of the former volcano, and the dolphins who said hello to us earlier in the day.

Is that not spectacular? Oh wait … it gets better …

It really is that beautiful

Salmon farm

So smooth. So rugged. So extinct.

Still spectacular

Cliff resident of type “mountain goat”

You got some very special hooves there, buddy

Seal getting its sun on

Another seal lovin’ some sun

Where Akaroa harbour meets the Pacific

Hector’s dolphin

Here come some more guests

Dolphins, curious about our boat

Pacific Ocean

Crag resident of type “moo”

A herd of moo

Sharp escarpments on the Pacific side

West side of the entrance to Akaroa harbour

East side of the harbour entrance

Another guest: yellow-eyed penguin

Ship wake. Harbour entrance

Heading back, because the spectacular just don’t stop

A lot of blue action happening here

Final approach and return to wharf

I made the photos above on 16 July 2012. This post appears initially on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-26S.