Boxing Day

There was a large cruise ship in Akaroa, the small town we were meant to visit this morning so we went on around the bend and into Otanerito Bay on the southern coast of the Banks Peninsula. Passengers came ashore in Zodiacs with some interesting stern-to landings (see photo) to hike in the Hinewai Reserve. I didn’t have a chance to explore much because the kids opted to stay on the ship, so instead I did a shark dissection with them using a small female spiny dogfish that the crew had caught a couple days before. The poor thing had been sitting in the galley walk in fridge since it was caught, so the time was ripe for getting her out and learning about anatomy. After lunch we rounded the corner and headed into Akaroa. Even though the town was crowded with cruise ship passengers it had a nice small town feel and little bit of French flare as the only French settlement in NZ. I finally had a chance to run! It felt fantastic and I ran through some pretty neighborhoods with quaint wooden clapboard cottages and nicely maintained country gardens. After dinner with the kids I caught up with some of the staff ashore for a couple of beers in a local pub. We were having a good enough time until two know-it-all German backpackers in their 20s broke into our conversation prying us with all kinds of questions about working on the ship and generally telling us their opinions about the US and the state of the world. We left them with the rest of our pitcher and took the last Zodiac to the ship under unbelievably clear skies and a million stars in the Milky Way with the Southern Cross low on the horizon. Not to shabby.