Okains Bay

 Our last day out was to Okains Bay on the Banks Peninsula, mainly to see a museum recommended to us.

We started out towards Akaroa, drove the 7km twisty uphill...and the 7km twisty downhill..and headed left and uphill again.

The museum is 11km from the main road, up more twisty fairly steep roads to a crossroads with Summit Road....the name says it all!!..at about 500+ metres above sea level..at a saddle between higher summits...then down a very steep and twisty road to Okains Valley..you can see where the road starts from, right dead centre in the picture 

There is a campground behind the dunes, with impeccable public toilets...Britain certainly could learn a few lessons here....clean, tidy, accessible...

Then a walk on the beach

A beautiful beach with practically no litter...a fair number of shells...but only bivalves....and a dead seal!

I couldn't get near enough to the black birds with red beaks and legs.....

And then we went round the museum.....

Autumn

 Autumn is here, and like the swallows we must fly.

I will post about our trip out yesterday when we have arrived in Scotland..I must conserve the battery in my tablet for now!!

Everything is packed..just waiting for our lift to the airport.

Looking forward to Scotland......not looking forward to leaving Aotearoa NZ.

Akaroa

 Yesterday's day out...done then because the cruise ship comes in there today.

There are a few of these...relics of the whaling trade

New houses...with a style nod the the old...they do fit in unlike some

Twisted tree..the rata family can grow as epiphytes, then grow roots down as well as branches up

The post office, still going..

The bank building, for sale

A good café and bakery

We ended up here for lunch. Not sure what this building used to be, but it is rather posh now! Getting gluten free food was a problem, even more so when you want vege as well. It hadn't been a problem anywhere until now.

Wriggly tin roofs everywhere.

We walked up this street...

Church closed, despite the sign saying open

To this

A bit Gaudi influenced...looked interesting, but at 25 bucks each....

To the glorious dead...I am not sure what the population was in the early 1900s....but 116 are recorded as being lost between 1914-1919....and when you think that influenza carried off even more, brought back in the troop ships....

The dark line is the main highway, yellow sealed side roads and grey gravel roads. Green is tramping tracks.

This landed out of sync! ....but most of the place names are French.