Our first weekend here in Akaroa and indeed, New Zealand and a good time was had by all.
We kicked off the weekend by enjoying a fish and chip supper along the waterfront. A pleasant evening stroll back to the cottage and so to bed.
At around 1130pm we were rudely awakened by the sound of sirens wailing, really, really loudly! It sounded like air raid sirens and we were both a tad concerned as the sirens continued obviously sounding some emergency….outside is almost pitch black at night and usually just the sound of the cicagles is all we hear….this alarming siren-sound had us in a mild panic.
Was it warning us of an impending disaster? Bush fire? Earthquake? Tsunami? The sirens eventually slowed to a less than deafening alarm and after another few minutes stopped all together. We could not hear or see anything to alert us to the obvious emergency and with a definite ringing in our ears, made our way back to bed just a little unsettled at this intrusion in to our perfect peace.
Saturday afternoon lazing on the decking in the warm afternoon sunshine and the sirens are off again! Broad daylight and the now familiar sound was less frightening but we were still curious as to why the alarm was sounding - after 5 minutes or so, the sirens slowed to a halt followed by several fire engines!
And so the mystery was solved. The sirens alert local volunteer fire officers (who may be anywhere in the town), of the emergency call - they then make their way to the fire station and do what firemen do!
There is a local farmer’s market on Saturday mornings and we made our way there first thing where we found locals selling produce from their gardens - lemons, limes, organic produce, all sorts of fruits and freshly baked bread. Lovely smells and lovely food - the bread we bought didn’t last until supper time!!
Saturday evening we attended a local talk on the Hector’s dolphins. It was extremely interesting, with a couple of people explaining about the dolphins behaviour, environment and conservation. It seems that there has been a decline in numbers since the 1970s but, with new measures introduced to prevent gillnetting and a sanctuary offshore to protect the dolphins, numbers are on the increase - trips out in to the harbour to swim with and see the dolphins is inevitably big business here - whilst the current levels of tourist interest are not detrimental we share the view that the impact of these type of trips must affect the dolphins and their environment and so, whilst we would dearly love to see them up close and personal we made the decision to enjoy them from the shore. We were rewarded on Sunday morning when we spotted the dolphins swimming in the harbour, their dorsal fins popping up every now and again and their sleek little bodies gliding through the clear waters. Special.
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