Over hills and round the bays

By NICK SQUIRES

Akaroa, meaning long, is a picturesque little town with a uniquely French flavour. About 60 French settlers arrived here in 1840, prompting a hasty declaration of British sovereignty by panicked local officials.

Akaroa sits in the middle of Banks Peninsula, which juts out from the South Island's east coast like a bunched fist. The peninsula is formed from the remains of three volcanoes, and its jagged coastline is nicked with bays and inlets.

The town, 80km from Christchurch, manages to celebrate its Gallic heritage without straying into tourist tackiness. Streets bear names such as Rue Lavaud and Rue Balguerie, the signs look like they have come straight from Paris or Perpignan, and French flags flutter from roofs.

The remains of some of the settlers are buried in an old French cemetery on L'Aube Hill, which commands fantastic views of the harbour and surrounding hills.

The best way to explore those hills is to tackle the highly recommended Banks Peninsula Track, a 35km-long circular hike across private farmland, advertised as "four nights, four days, four beaches, four bays". Walkers are met in the late afternoon in Akaroa and driven a few kilometres to an immaculately kept wooden hut high above the hamlet of Onuku, which consists of a couple of houses and a pretty little wooden church, built in 1878.

The next day begins with a gruelling climb to the highest part of the walk, a 699m-high triangulation point which, on a clear day, commands views of the Southern Alps, far to the west.

The path then drops down the other side of the mountain, plunging deep into native beech forest and following a trickling stream to Flea Bay, a picturesque inlet with a pebble beach, a thicket of enormous cedars and a sheep shearing shed.

The hills around Flea Bay are farmed by Francis Helps, whose great passion is the colony of white-flippered penguins which live around his family's homestead.

At dusk he is happy to show visitors the artificial wooden burrows he has built all over the hillside, each one equipped with a hinged lid which he lifts up to reveal pairs of startled-looking penguin chicks.

"They're nippy little blighters," he says, showing the scars on his hands.

"They're quite aggressive to each other, and will nest up to 500m from the sea if they feel crowded by other penguins."

Another gorgeous stretch of coastal scenery opens up on day two, as hikers make their way along a cliff-top path, past a sea cave full of New Zealand fur seals, to Stony Bay.

Here farmers Mark and Sonia Armstrong have created a Hobbit-like village of wooden huts facing each other across a grassy clearing, complete with a rope swing, a clear stream, an ingenious shower built onto the side of a dead tree, and an outdoor snooker table made from scrap wood.

Here, too, is one of the highlights of the walk - an outdoor bath propped up on bricks. Footsore hikers are invited to light a fire beneath the enamel tub and wait for a while before soaking in steaming hot water beneath the stars.

The perfect end to a perfect day.

Day three is an easy 6km walk along the cliffs to Otanerito Bay, where fur seals play amid the kelp. Hikers spend the night in a beautifully restored 1860s homestead surrounded by foxgloves and geraniums.

We eventually made our way along a path that winds through sunlit meadows and beech forest to a high saddle beneath 806m-high Stony Bay Peak, from where it is an easy downhill walk into Akaroa.

The Banks Peninsula walk is not only breathtakingly beautiful; it is also more accessible than more famous tramps. With the number of hikers allowed on the walk restricted by the small number of beds in the various huts, you will virtually have the hills to yourself - except, of course, for the seals and sea birds.


Akaroa

Banks Track