← PreviousVisiting the Hamilton Gardens: a cultural and playful immersionWe got up around 7:30 to be ready to leave at 8 so we'd be sure to return the rental car by 9. There was a lot of traffic in Auckland, but nothing insurmountable, and we arrived ten minutes early. No obstacles came our way on the road to the airport. We were on the 11:30 domestic flight from Auckland to Christchurch. The sky was very clear and we enjoyed a stunning view of the two islands from the air. At 1 pm we arrived in Christchurch. We left our bags at the vehicle rental agency and went for a wander in town. Christchurch was a city devastated by the 2011 earthquake; it looked like a huge open-air building site, with absolutely everything under construction.
We walked around town for a few hours without ever really being dazzled. It was very clear we wouldn't live there. At 4:30 pm we picked up the rental car that would be our vehicle for eighteen days on the South Island and headed to our Airbnb for the next two nights. The young couple had a friend over, and they made a point of planning our route with us, warning us about problems we didn't know about and landscapes we absolutely mustn't miss. We told them we intended to go to Akaroa the next day, and they predicted an incredible day.
The alarm went off at 8 am. No time to dawdle: we were already on the road to the Summit Road, a scenic route with magnificent views on both sides. We feasted our eyes all the way to the start of the day's first hike: a 45-minute climb to an impressive viewpoint. Tired from the drive and the climb, we went down to the village of Akaroa for a bite to eat. We were amused to see it looked like a little French colony. All the restaurant names were in French, and even the petrol station was signed in the language of Molière, with a very pretty "L'Essence" in big letters.
After lunch we drove up into the hills for a few short walks before the event of the day: a cruise in the bay looking for Hector's dolphins, the smallest in the world! At 3:30 pm we boarded a small boat and waited impatiently to see the little marine mammals poke their heads out of the water. We didn't have to wait long, because quite quickly a little pod of dolphins followed the boat, letting us see them up close and take lots of photos. We were like children, eyes full of stars.
But the cruise wasn't over, and the skipper announced we'd continue along the cliffs. We were struck by the beauty of the landscape, those sheer cliffs with sometimes even spring-water waterfalls running down them. The sun bathed it all in incredible light and we were truly captivated by the beauty of the place. We hadn't been particularly won over by the North Island, but the South Island delivered on its promises straight away. We were even lucky enough to see a little penguin swimming in the water and a colony of seals with lots of babies scrambling up the rocks as we approached. Towards the end of the trip, the captain even invited us into his cabin.