Akaroa

Cynthia wanted to take a day trip from Christchurch to Akaroa. The town of Akaroa is on a dead volcano that forms the Banks Peninsula. The peninsula was first sighted by James Cook in 1770, and named after his naturalist Sir Joseph Banks. I’m thinking “naturalist” in those days probably didn’t mean “nudist” like it does today. In the 1830s there were a lot of French whalers here and in 1838 a Frenchman named Langlois bought the entire peninsula from the Maoris; probably for $24 and some beads. He then went back to France to form a company to exploit the area and to bring 57 colonists. When the Brits heard about this they got their knickers in a twist and quickly sent a ship over there to hoist the British flag. Now the whole place is a giant tourist black hole.

These eels are pretty common place in streams and lakes here. There's nothing in the picture to give it scale, but this guy is about three feet long.

Easily prevented with proper oral hygiene...

I'm thinking this my be a clue to the rising crime rate in NZ:

Almost every town that we've been to has some form or another of a war memorial.

These are whale blubber rendering pots from the pre-Greenpeace days:

Don't ask me...

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