Showing posts with label akaroa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label akaroa. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 May 2009

It's Akaroa's fault

My parents have a house in Akaroa and sometimes we go over and stay there. It's a little settlement on the water and is noted for having a large proportion of French settlers (back in the beginning of European colonisation). In summer it is blue and green and sparkling and warm, but in Autumn it can be quite bleak - we went for a wander on Saturday (Matt was on the lookout for some old Warren and Mahoney house for Christchurch Modern) past the lighthouse to a Britomart memorial:

Boo's a sucker for a good memorial - she likes to read the inscriptions to learn a bit more about local history.

We had an amazing meal that night and then cuddled up for the evening, only to awaken to find snow on the hills outside the kitchen window....which meant a very bleak and scary drive back to Sefton that night.

See, there's snow!

Dudley Benson wrote a song about Akaroa. He used to live there. you can listen here:



Matt didn't find the house.

Saturday, 3 January 2009

Christmas low down

Well what a festive season we've had...so much food, so much gin (and Pimms), so much sun. It was Boo's first real Christmas, she got a fair amount of pressies, and managed to open them all herself. I think she was most impressed by her squeaking HoHoHo bone.

But I was definitely the luckiest gift-getter by far with the arrival of a brand spanking new Kronan bike! She is so fine, she has a basket and a bell and is just a dream to ride. I am the luckiest girl in Sefton right now.

All in all it was a very relaxing Christmas break... my elderflower champagne worked quite well (well, it was fizzy and tasted ok, I'm pretty sure it was very low on alcohol), I read a couple of books (my favourite being The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot diaz), played some scrabble (and won obviously), and generally enjoyed being out of town. Matt and Boo went running around the hills of Akaroa which turned her into the Boo we wish we had all the time (so pooped she did nothing but slept and slept for the rest of the day).

And as if that wasn't enough fun, the following week on the auspicious occasion of my birthday I was presented with a cardboard box full of gorgeous cupcakes! I only managed to eat about 10 of them though (there was a total of 12).

The day was scorching hot and so we had a dip in the Ashley river with Boo too. We are pretty lucky that we can walk down the back of the farm to the river..I had some photos but I am in all of them in my togs and I'm not sure the internet is ready for that yet. Maybe some other time.