From Oamaru, we drove 4 hours to Akaroa. It was settled by the French and later by British. It sits on Banks Peninsula, formed by a volcano, with bays radiating out in all directions. As it turns out, Akaroa was our 'personal favorite'. It is one of the most charming little sea-side villages with its colonial architecture and boutique arts and crafts shops.
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We luckily found a great deal on a 1-bedroom cabin (the Akaroa Cottages). The cabin was totally secluded in the forest, with the sound of birds singing and a beautiful view of the harbor. I did a few early morning hikes and saw several new bird species including California Quail, New Zealand Pigeons, Bellbirds, and a Swamp Harrier.
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The biggest attraction in Akaroa was to see the Hector's Dolphins, only found in NZ. They are the smallest and one of the most rare dolphin species. We booked a tour with Akaroa Dolphins and highly recommend them. The owner drives the boat and serves as the guide. Luckily, we were 2 of 4 guests on board that day, so we had the boat to ourselves. The other couple was from NZ and lots of fun. The owner brings his dog, Buster, who is known as "the dolphin finder". But, Buster had a sleep over at a friend's house and was so tired he was just sleeping. On our way out of the harbor, we were surprised to see a lone White-Flippered penguin. The White-flippered penguin is a subspecies of the Little Blue penguin and has similar coloring, but is slightly larger. There is a large colony of the White-flippered penguins on Banks Peninsula, but they are not usually seen in the harbor.
On our way out of the bay, the views of the cliffs and surrounding hillsides was nice, especially since we had a beautiful day. All of the sudden, Buster came to life, ran out into the cockpit and jumped up to the rail. Sure enough after a few minutes, we were surrounded by Hector's Dolphins! Amazing! He knew they were there several minutes before we could see them. We had a couple groups of about 3-4 dolphins that took turns playing in the bow wake and performing acrobatic routines for us. They are so stunning with their distinctive gray, black and white markings. They are only 4-5 feet long and weigh 90-130 pounds.
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On our way back into the bay, we got lucky again. We saw baby fur seals playing in a tidal pool, and we saw a Yellow-eyed penguin sunbathing on a cliff. Again, the penguin was an unusual sighting and really surprised the boat owner. We also saw the salmon farms, where they hand-feed the salmon every day, weather permitting. There is also a paua pearl farm in the bay.
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More Later - G&T