Wednesday 28th November

We started as has become usual for me, and even sometimes for Lucinda, with a full cooked breakfast. It was a short walk down to the harbour to board the boat for today's trip. The large natural harbour is formed from a volcano crater and is steep sided and narrow. To the north the harbour at Lyttleton (also formed from a crater) which serves Christchurch was hit by the earthquake so cruise ships now put in here in Akaroa. There was one yesterday and a new one today. This means ships boats shuttling all day delivering up to 800 tourists to this town of 650 residents. Many of them waddled their way to waiting coaches which dispersed them to tours, or they sat in the cafes with buns and ice creams. The captain of our little boat soon found the world's smallest and rarest dolphins, the Hector's dolphins. As we drifted along there were one or two near our boat, then more gathered. We then sped up and some 12 dolphins came along for the ride, surfing on our bow wave and leaping out of the water in front of us - magnificent. We were shown some of the fascinating rock formations as we headed to the mouth of the harbour and the open sea. On the way back we saw cormorants and fur seals, and a distant view of two tiny bedraggled blue penguins (the same as Australian fairy penguins). We then walked to the monument commemorating Captain Owen Stanley of HMS Britomart who, in August 1840, raised the Union Jack to demonstrate British sovereignty 6 days before the French arrived with their claim. After all that we walked up the hill behind the town. It was unremittingly uphill for about an hour but gave us stunning views over the harbour below. We stumbled back down in time for drinks and yet another wonderful meal.