Akaroa is a small township located within the Banks peninsula of the South Island in New Zealand. Surrounded by lush hills and turquoise waters, Akaroa is about a two hour drive from Christchurch.
The picturesque resort town has it’s dose of commercial – wildlife cruises and tours, fishing, hiking and biking options, with a dash of culture sprinkled in. Often described as the most French town in New Zealand, it was the first and only French settlement in the country. The influence is apparent in the historic buildings and the little cafes scattered across town. Consider going here if you enjoy wildlife tours, magnificent views and quiet getaways.
Our main goal for visiting the town was to be a part of the Pohatu Penguin Tours adventure. The majestic views were an unexpected bonus.
Picture this. You’re a new bride who just moved to your husband’s ancestral property in Flea Bay a few miles from Akaroa. You tend to the farm, grow your family, host a bed and breakfast and make your life out there. But you’re also surrounded by an unlikely family of a different species. The white-flippered Penguins. You’ve grown up with these penguins around, but as years pass, you notice generations of penguins disappearing, getting close to extinction. What would you do? That’s the story of the fascinating couple Francis and Shireen Helps of the Flea Bay in the Banks peninsula, who started out as farmers and ended up as conservationists.
Pohatu penguin tours are organized by members of this farming family / entrepreneurs / environmentalists. Their efforts have trapped about 10000 invasive predators such as stoats and ferrets and given refuge to almost 500 penguins. Thanks to their hard work, the declining penguin population is now thriving.
The other big predator of course, is the unfettered human curiosity towards the little creatures. The controlled tours organized by the Helps, helps preserve the penguin population. Read more about their work here:
The Tour
Tour details: Twilight penguin tour, starts at 4 PM.
Drive: Drove from Christchurch around noon, and reached Akaroa just in time for the tour bus. If possible, start early from Christchurch to give yourself ample time to enjoy the scenic views that the town has to offer. Sunlight glimmering on the Azure waters of the bay, surrounded by the green Volcanic vistas, with the town tucked away in the center, offers post-card scenery for your enjoyment.
Dinner: Most of the restaurants close by the time the tour concludes. If you can’t pack dinner, arrive early to eat dinner at one of the local restaurants. The tour bus picks you up from a restaurant, where you can pick up dinner if needed.
Attire: Dress in layers even during the summer as you return after dark.
Important:
- Getting to Akaroa – onward journey was easy enough, but the roads near Akaroa are windy. So, consider the option of staying the night at Akaroa instead of driving back to Christchurch, depending on your comfort level in driving through the hilly roads.
- The penguins were a highlight of our trip, but as the tours caution, we are watching penguins in the wild, there are no guarantees when it comes to nature. Do not expect national geographic level photographs. It’s worth investing in good binoculars and lens, but remember you’ll be taking low light pictures from a distance.
- You might want to consider boat tours which may get you a little bit closer to the penguins or see them in better light.
- Consider carrying a tripod and a zoom lens/camera that will capture good nighttime pictures from afar. But if you’re traveling with kids, specially young ones like we did, I’d shun all that, and just stick with good binoculars, because it’s a long walk that begins at twilight and ends in the dark.
What to Expect
The bus drops you off at the Helps’ farm house and you set on foot to see the penguins. You get a chance to see the sheep and other farm animals. After socializing with the animals, we were given a small orientation and camouflage gear. Then the tour guides did a feeding session for couple of the penguins on the property.
Those were some hungry penguins, even serving bloody cuts to the hands of the guides that fed them, and that seems like a daily affair. Their aggression was a strange sight to behold, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether the penguins were starved for the sake of the show.
But later in the tour, the impact that the Helps enabled was clear. It’s important to understand the before the Helps arrived on the island, the penguins were dying and close to being extinct due to uncontrolled predators. Their preservation efforts include making hundreds of makeshift wooden shelters on the hillside, which the penguins eagerly use for breeding and sheltering their young. It’s mostly the young in these boxes that you’ll see on the tour. At a distance on the beach, if you’re camouflage gear hides you sufficiently, you’ll hear the penguins chatter after dark, getting ready to return to feed their young ones.
We didn’t know what to expect before going on the tour. But we were blown away by the conservatory efforts and by the hard working tour guides and drivers. And of course, the appreciation of having seen these fascinating creatures in their element will always stay with us.
The quiet van ride back through the dark hills makes one rethink one’s priorities. Stories of people who happened to be passing through Flea Bay, smitten by it’s beauty, resolving to make their life there, volunteering of otherwise. Helping save this almost extinct species. Where do our worldly luxuries play a part here? How selfless or spontaneous or untethered does one have to be, to derive pleasure from such a thankless albeit, fulfilling life?
Maybe you can drop a comment on your experience if you happened to visit. As far as tours go, we rate this excellent, and do highly recommend it.