Giveaways
FOLLOWING on from last week, I should mention that on the way to Akaroa from Christchurch, you go past Birdlings Flat, a small beach settlement at the head of the Kaitorete Spit, which guards Lake Ellesmere, or Waihora.
There are lots of places that sell souvenir rocks on the peninsula. I came across one of them at Birdlings Flat, the Birdlings Flat Gemstone and Fossil Museum, run by a man in his eighties who, at the time of writing, is looking to retire and sell up. Apparently, it contains the largest collection of its kind in the country. Here are a couple of photos of that museum.
A bit further on, you come to Te Roto o Wairewa, or Little River, where the Christchurch to Little River Rail Trail, which also runs through Birdlings Flat, terminates.
Te Roto o Wairewa is also the Māori name for nearby Lake Forsyth, a shallow, lagoon-like lake that was once connected to the sea, until its outlet was filled up with sand and shingle driven north by storms. The next photo shows the Little River Rail Trail, next to Lake Forsyth.
What a discovery!
I came across a campground that was only NZ $25 a night, with separate areas for people with children and people without. It had a river running through it and was surrounded by native bush — extremely pleasant!
Here is a statue of a local Māori chief located nearby, dating all the way back to 1900!
In the early nineteenth century, the peninsula, which at that time supported a large Māori population, was hit hard by the Viking-like North Island raider Te Rauparaha.
Most notoriously, a large Ngāi Tahu pā on the Ōnawe Peninsula at the head of Akaroa Harbour was massacred in 1832, with comparatively few survivors.
The Ōnawe Peninsula is almost an island, with a little neck of land across which people could only cross from the mainland with the permission of the residents. Te Rauparaha’s warriors raided the peninsula from the sea.
This incident, which was the worst of his raids in the region but not the first, is still keenly remembered by the Ngāi Tahu, whose own ancestors came down from the Tairawhiti/Gisborne area of the North Island in the late 1600s and early 1700s, but more peaceably.
The survivors abandoned Ōnawe, which now contained too many of the bones of their compatriots, and relocated down Akaroa Harbour to the site that they called Ōnuku, which means ‘At a distance,’ to found a new village at a distance from the old one.
Meanwhile, in Porirua, north of Wellington, there is the Te Rauparaha Arena, Te Rauparaha evidently being far more of a local hero in that part of the country.
I also went to Le Bons Bay, east of Akaroa on the outer Pacific coast, which was fantastic.
I also spent two nights at the Akaroa International Music Festival. The founders of the music festival want Akaroa to remain artistic, and not become the next Queenstown. Some of the performances were held at the Gaiety Theatre, a name that sounds Irish to me.
Here is a video from the music festival; the baritone singing an impressive song in the second part is Teddy Tahu Rhodes. He seemed to know many people in the audience!
For more information about things to see and do in Akaroa, see:
And, akaroa.com.
If you liked this post, check out my book about the South Island! It’s available for purchase from this website, a-maverick.com.
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