Akaroa-- History, beauty, and conservancy

Akaroa is a small town on the Banks Peninsula with a strong French influence.   The french whalers in the early 1800's had settled this area, developing a small village.   In 1838 the captain of the Cachalot, a French whaling ship "purchased" land from a local Maori chief.  He then went back to France and convinced the government to back an expedition to colonize this area for France.  5 days prior to the French colonists arrival back in 1840, the British crown had signed the Treaty of Waitangi with all of the Maori chiefs from both islands, resulting in all of New Zealand being under British rule.   Mssr. Lavaud, the french leader was met at the harbor entrance by a British warship informing him France had no claim.  In order to avoid a potential conflict, he struck the french flag from his mast, raised the Union Jack in acknowledgement of Britain's rule, and "the rest is history". Even today Akaroa has many remnants of french influence including french place names, family names, bilingual residents, as well as historic homes built by the french.

The Peninsula feels somewhat isolated due to the geography and access being one road in and out, but isolation is relative.  Our breakfast table at Coombs Farm this morning was shared by Trevor and Sarah who live on St. Helena island which is 1/2 way between Namibia and Buenos Aires in the South Atlantic.  St. Helena only got cell phone service in 2014, and until 2014 when the first airport on the island opens, it was a 5 day journey by ship to the nearest landfall.

Cruise ships have started to use Akaroa in place of Lyttleton since those harbor facilities were damaged in the Christchurch earthquake.   The town was quiet as we meandered, enjoying the small streets and homes. Stopping at Pohatu Penguins, a tour and conservancy office.  We arranged a tour to see penguins later in the evening.  The weather was so nice we head up and over to Le Bons Bay to enjoy walking the beach and a picnic.  There are a few houses around but mostly field and farm. I was impressed that at the end of the road there was a phone box with an automatic defibrillator next to it.  Hopefully the call is free, and the battery stays charged!  Most of fire and emergency services in the south are volunteer, and response times are quite long with the only option for tertiary care being a flight to Christchurch, Dunedin, or Nelson.

Akaroa harbor

Akaroa town

Uplands looking down to Le Bons Bay

So, back to the Penguins!  It turns out that this area is one of the few nesting ad molting habitats used by the white flipper penguin when they return from feeding at sea.  The Helps family run a remote sheep farm on the east, or "wild" side of the Peninsula.  They have been conservation minded for years after seeing how few penguins were coming ashore.   They are well respected for their work in helping improve bird numbers which they fund out of pocket, through donations and offering tours of the refuge they have run for over 25 years; working to restore a dwindling population of these small penguins.  These birds come to Flea Bay to nest, sometimes laying two clutches of eggs/year, as well as molt.  They feed at sea during the day and return to their colonies at night, but when molting stay ashore for as long as two weeks.   Our guide, Joey Helps explained that New Zealand's birdlife has suffered due to unintended consequences occurring due to the effects of imported species which have destroyed much of the native birds on the South Island.   Farmers, the general population and NZ’s conservation department, and many businesses are working to reverse the loss of native birds due to predators.  Years ago rabbits were brought as a food source and became out of control, eating crops and vegetation.  To fix this ferrets and stoats were introduced to kill off the rabbits and Opossums were imported as a farmed fur animal.  Unfortunately, all of these species have gone feral, multiplied and hugely reduced birds through preying on them and their eggs.  Pohatu Penguins has built nesting and molting boxes as well as trapping these predators to control their numbers.  Mrs. Helps runs a nursery feeding and rehabilitating sick and injured penguins.    The tours that start in the evening and go to nightfall include a van ride over the ridge to the wild east side, a visit to the refuge, and time in a blind with binoculars to watch the adults come ashore to begin their molt.   Penguins actually climb (waddle??) over 200 meters in elevation to nest.    We eve got to peak into the molting dens to see some adult birds as well as see the penguin nursery.  The trip was informative, fun, and we were pleased that all the fees for the tour go to funding their work.

The next morning we enjoyed another up/down/twisty bike ride to visit a small Maori settlement where additional signatures for the treaty with Britain were obtained.  It is the site of a new meeting house called a Maari, as well as a historic Maori anglican church at Onuku.   We had a nice visit with an elderly woman who explained that young doctors in New Zealand came to this area to study traditional healing as part of their medical studies.  After loading up we climb through this beautiful landscape and drop down the other side and on to Timaru where we spent the evening with friends Rick and Sue Sanders.

Flea Bay