Aaaaaakaroa!!! where the wind comes sweeping off the ocean

So I went to Akaroa this weekend with Tamar, Ellen, and two of Tamar's friends from IES Auckland who were visiting for the weekend! I had Oklahoma! stuck in my head for the entire weekend, and I do not know any of the words except for "Ohhhhhhh-klahoma where the muttermuttermutter." Yeah, I had to look up the wind part just now to complete the post title.


We stayed in an adorable hostel named the Chez la Mer. I would highly recommend it. We stayed in the dorm-style rooms with a boy from Holland and a boy from Germany, except that the German boy did not sleep in there. He was out all night with some of the girls from the hostel, so who knows which bed he ended up in! The boy from Holland was named Albert and was quite pleasant. He had dinner with us, but I'll get to that.


When we got to Akaroa, which is about an hour and a half bus ride away from Chch (but really shouldn't it be Chchch? I've been telling people this, and they all sort of shrug or don't respond, but there are in fact three "ch"s in Christchurch!), we stopped in at the hostel and dropped out stuff off. They weren't quite ready for us in terms of making the beds and such, so we played cards for a little while (Crazy Eights, which for family members is Donkey). Eventually we were all squared away, and we wandered up and down the main street in Akaroa until the dolphin cruise.

Akaroa was originally settled by the French. There is a French half and a British half, but where we were was predominantly in the French half. So all the place names were in French, like Chez la Mer. The first day it was overcast, so we spent a lot of time in the little tourist shops. I got one of those roll-up bags that turn into a little tiny thing. IT HAS DINOSAURS ON IT. Ellen was teasing about how I am a little kid inside, and I was like, oh just you wait, you haven't seen anything yet. So yes, it is red and yellow and has a blue dinosaur on it and a yellow dinosaur on it. They also sell fudge there, and we got samples. I forget the name of the shop now, but if you find a place that says they sell fudge, go in, because they sell awesome roll-up bags and some other stuff.


Then we went on the dolphin swim! I was like, I'm not mad about the swimming part and also I'm cheap, so I just went along for the ride to see the dolphins, while everyone else got all wet suited up. Unfortunately, the dolphins were not feeling super playful, the weather got really bad, and I got really sick. I was already feeling a little like I was getting sick, and then to add seasickness on to it was just not a good plan. I actually almost did not go to Akaroa because my throat was so sore and I thought for sure I was just going to be miserable, but I'm glad that I went.


Anyway, since the swimmers did not actually get to swim with the dolphins (they got in, and some dolphins came swimming by, but there was no interaction), they were given a refund. Oh, really quickly! These are Hector's dolphins, these really tiny black and gray dolphins that are found only in New Zealand. Pretty cool stuff.

After that, we went back to the hostel and made noodles and pesto (and by made I mean boiled the noodles and opened the thing of ready-made pesto and mixed the two together). Oh, by this point, Eliza and Gabe, the two IES Auckland kids, had gone back to Chch. They had to catch a flight Sunday morning, so they didn't stay the night in Akaroa. We saw Albert (boy from Holland) in the room, so we invited him to have dinner with us. Pesto was a new experience for him, and since we added too much pasta, I don't know how much he enjoyed it. Afterwards, we played Scrabble (without Albert. He went to nap). We also played Yahtzee, and then we went to sleep.

The next day, we found that the hike to the seal rookery had been cancelled because of the heavy rain the day before. The rocks were much too slippery. We went off in search of something else to do for the rest of the day, and saw that Chez la Mer guests got a discount on a boat tour of Akaroa, so we went on that. Tamar really loves to be on the water, and after my seasickness the day before, I was not feeling particularly keen, but it was really nice. The weather had improved significantly and we were also not starting and stopping continuously in search of Hector's dolphins to swim with. We did see dolphins, and also fur seals and an ALBATROSS (I was most excited about the albatross, which I think confused some people), and a black petrol.

Afterwards, we wandered around Akaroa some more, found a place that makes excellent ice cream (it's just vanilla ice cream, but you can add two types of frozen fruit, and there is this mixer that looks like it could drill to the center of the Earth, and it blends it all together to make a delicious sort of soft serve fruity ice cream), and played cards.


It was a very low-key weekend, but it was very enjoyable, and Tamar, Ellen, and I had some nice chats on the boat and bus rides. We met a woman who is cycling around New Zealand... it is very impressive. We got to see Hector's dolphins, and I got that dinosaur bag.

To backtrack really quickly, I also went to a Crusaders game! That is the Canterbury rugby team. They were playing versus the Wellington Hurricanes, and they lost. Due to staying out too late the night before, we were all pretty tired for the rugby game, and I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I would have had I been completely healthy and completely rested. The cool part is, horses come out at the beginning of the game! There is the first crusader who comes out on his white horse and does a lap swinging a sword, and then all the others come out on black horses and do a lap as well. Those riders will stop in front of every stand and salute the crowd before continuing on their lap.


We also went to a fun Mexican restaurant called the Flying Burrito Brothers and had dinner and margaritas. The restaurant was really nice, and I would recommend it. We had most of our program, though, plus some roommates and friends, too, so all told we were probably thirty people, and the poor waitress had a rough time of it. Especially once some of the louder students had margaritas, the table got ridiculously noisy. But the food was excellent! Then Tamar, Eliza, Gabe, and I went to a salsa dance! I'm hoping to take salsa, but the first class overlaps with the day IES goes to Willowbank (a wildlife reserve that has kiwis).

Well, that's it until next time! It's back to classes, so there may not be anything interesting until next weekend, sorry. I hope everyone is doing well, and I'll be in touch!