Our flight into Christchurch arrived at 9:10 pm on Friday, March 10th. By the time we picked up the rental car and drove through the windy roads to Akaroa, we didn’t pull into the quaint town until nearly midnight. Everyone was starving! We were used to Australia cities all along the freeway and thought we would at least find a fast food place open at that hour. But alas, New Zealand is nothing like Australia and there was nothing open. Each small town we drove through was shut down for the night.
Once in Akaroa, we drove down Rue Lavaud in hopes of finding something open. A pub it was! Brandon braved the pool-playing, loud crowd and ordered us the only thing left on the menu: fries and curly fries. But by golly, those were the best tasting curly fries. Ever. And they came wrapped in brown-paper. How quaint is that? I love those little details that make life happy.
We checked into our very pov (an Australian slang word for poverty) place and tried to get some sleep. Everyone was super tired and slept in until well-past check out time the next morning. Oops!
The great thing about being in the only French town in New Zealand is amazing pastries. We hit up the one and only bakery in town and had the best ham and cheese croissants for breakfast. It’s fun always getting the same thing when we go to French bakeries so we can find the best in the world. And so far, this is it.
^I didn’t realize how similar the mountains there would look like Utah’s. 
Brandon had some work he needed to catch up, so we went to the library and I walked took our children to explore the harbor and lighthouse. Because I’m obsessed with visiting lighthouses.
Traveling with children has been so adventurous and fun, but the only downside was not being able to go swimming with the hector dolphins that are only found in Akaroa, New Zealand. We watched the tour boats leaving from the docks and then went to the lighthouse.
We met back up with Brandon at the library, played there a little, too and then left for Geraldine, just as it started to rain.
