Our 1st full day in NZ – Part I

Thursday Nov. 30, 2017

5am we were up. The birds were singing so loudly. We had planned on sleeping in longer as we were still very jetlagged, but once awake there was no going back. We didn’t want to miss a thing. It’s hard to go to sleep when there’s so much more to explore, to see.

Listen below to hear the birds of Akaroa from our studio window:

The days are long here. In Akaroa, currently the sun rises at 5:41am, the sun sets at 8:54pm. We opened the curtains and cracked the windows to an amazing view from our Coastal Retreat. Surrounded by green mountains, we watched a cruise ship slowly pulling in. The sounds of birds were all around us making the morning entirely peaceful.

We did have one issue. Adam managed to blow a fuse the night before while trying to plug our “universal” adapter into another adapter because the “universal” one wouldn’t fit into the New Zealand plug. Last night, this wasn’t much of a concern as we were too tired to care. Come morning, Angela’s coffee couldn’t be made due to the blown circuit. Shame on Adam!

After we spent the first few hours enjoying the view, posting pictures of the AirBnB on Instagram and typing our first blog on the patio, we decided to hit the town for a little breakfast. Angela wanted to do a little window-shopping at the Fire and Ice store as well as check out the one of a kind Blue Pearls farmed in the bay. Adam, on the other hand, was extremely patient but after looking at one too many stones/crystals/pearls he decided it was time for a well-deserved pre-noon beer. After all, we are on vacation.

By sitting down having a beer, he hoped this would give us time to actually post our first blog as well as import the pictures while utilizing a 30-minute WiFi connection. It all started out great. We got the blog posted but as we were importing the pictures, the crowd from the cruise ship began to storm the restaurant and take up all the bandwidth. We’re pretty sure the retirees each took a turn Facetiming every single person they knew. Angela’s patience began to wane. Needless to say, we quickly decided to abort mission, to leave the bar (so no cell phones ended up in the bay) and make our way out of town before we were able to finish the blog post. (…to those who were waiting, sorry for the delay)

Our first stop/excursion of our trip was the to the Akaroa Farm Tours, a sheep farm located on Paua Bay. Embarking on our journey, Angela navigated us down a one-lane dirt road on the side of a mountain. We were driving through the clouds (not the fog, but ACTUAL clouds that were bellowing over the mountain tops). After a few pit stops to take pictures and one “relief” stop – Adam couldn’t wait to have his first encounter with the wilderness, haha – we arrived at the farm. We were the first ones to get there…not knowing if anyone else would show up. The great thing about being the a little early is that we got the opportunity to have a little one-on-one with the owner of the farm, Murray. We were also able to capture the authenticity of the farm during this time. After a few minutes (and after saying hey to the sheep dogs) we were joined by 3 vanloads of “Cruisers” (happy, happy, joy, joy…).

So, the tour started with the owner/4^th generation farmer (his family actually were some of the first white people to occupy the area) giving us a history lesson of the Island, the farming, and a little family history as well. This was actually surprisingly entertaining as well as informative. Next, we witnessed his daughter-in-law shear a sheep. This was a BIG sheep, about 70 kilos. (not sure how much that is in pounds but it was a beast). If you never watched a sheep get sheared, it’s extremely physical and somewhat alarming. (AKA: Angela was traumatized. She is infatuated with sheep.) BUT, that’s the only way the job can be done.

After the shearing we had a demonstration of the dogs and their herding techniques. This was AWESOME!!! These dogs were not only smart and on point, they were extremely fast. Next, we all went to the main house for coffee/tea/and homemade scones. The main house was surrounded by a plentiful flower garden and had views overlooking the valley and bay. I can’t see this view ever getting old. After the social engagement, all the vans and “cruisers” left – leaving us solo with the family (we were the only tourists that actually drove in).

Angela, in talking with the daughter-in-law, was offered a meet-and-greet with the baby lambs on site. Angela was in HEAVEN with this unique one-on-one time with the baby lambs.

^if you look closely you can see there are sheep way up there; gives you an idea of how massive these hills are…