This is it: some of the best things you can see and do are outside the village!
Akaroa and the outer bays
Akaroa and the outer bays are remarkable!
I know what I'm saying about Akaroa, because for the last 20 years I lived and worked in some of the most spectacular and scientifically interesting places in New Zealand, as an officer in our government's conservation department.
After decades of seeing natural beauty close up I am more convinced than ever that Akaroa and the outer bays are truly striking.
Akaroa village charm
For one thing, Akaroa village itself is charming and historic.
You will know by now Akaroa village was built by a colony of French settlers who came here in 1840 . Ten years later British businessmen founded Christchurch, about 100 km away on the flat plains of Canterbury, and that town quickly became the commercial center of the emerging European province.
But Akaroa village kept it's appeal and today it's a busy tourist town.
On any sunny Akaroa day you find friends talking over coffee in the waterfront cafes. Cruise boats take passengers out onto the blue harbour.
But the magic really starts when you get into a van and drive up over the hills that surround Akaroa village. You're then in another world — the world of the outer bays.
The bays outside Akaroa village
Banks Peninsular has a quiet, peaceful beauty I haven't found in other parts of New Zealand.
I take my groups out of Akaroa village to special places I have found, past isolated farms and up on the hill tops, to share with them stunning views down onto the great back of the blue Pacific Ocean.
In a comfortable luxury van, we drive along ridges and hill tops, and wind around quiet back roads and remote stock routes. We walk on safe tracks out to long fingers of land, and pause to look across to huge, brown cliffs dropping into white breakers crashing and foaming at their base.
On some tours guests may visit the local Akaroa cheese factory or the winery (with free samples!). On some days we drive to a hidden bay and stop at a well-presented Maori and colonial museum. There we study ancient Maori artifacts and look into original Peninsular buildings carefully reconstructed in the bay.
From the high ridges we look down on great sweeps of Akaroa Harbour and Pacific Ocean. Then, down in the bays you can take off your shoes and walk along the sand on the sea shore.
Banks Peninsular is remote, and seldom travelled through. But welcoming and friendly.
I warming recommend this restful, isolated, enchanting area of the peninsular and Akaroa.