Akaroa....Change in Plans!

As we prepared for our day ashore in Akaroa (Christchurch), the captain came on the intercom system and announced that he had been in touch with the port authorities and they were reporting 2 meter waves and 40 knot winds (this is a tender port).  For our safety, he informed us that regrettably we would not be stopping in Akaroa today.  So we travel on to Port Chalmers (Dunedin) today. 

Although disappointing, if this had to happen, this would have been our choice to skip.  We had already decided against taking a 1-1/2 hour drive to Christchurch (New Zealand’s 2^nd largest city) due to the remaining destruction from the massive earthquake that happened 5 years ago.  Although some sections of the town were unharmed, most of the city is still blocked off and remains in disrepair due to disagreements in how to restore/rebuild it.

So our plan (weather dependent) was to stay in Akaroa, which is a sleepy little town with a French flair dotted with 19^th and 20^th century colonial dwellings. 

This change in plans gives us more time to prepare for our big overnight excursion tomorrow.  We leave the ship tomorrow in Dunedin and travel inland across the south island and spend the night in Queenstown.  We will be tendered back to the ship the following afternoon in Milford Sound.  Our fellow cruisers still onboard will spend that day cruising through the Fjordland National Park.