The good, the bad, and the ugly.

We went to Akaroa on the recommendation of Fodor’s guide. The town is unique in that it was originally settled by the French, who in 1840 were hoping to claim New Zealand for France. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on whether you like escargot, they were a bit too late. Today the town’s French roots are evident in the names of the ‘rues’ and businesses. One of Fodor’s readers thought this seaside community was the highlight of her trip to the region, and regretted not staying over. So we did.

We found a wonderful, romantic cabin in the woods, with a fireplace, lots of candles, comfortable reclining leather chairs, and a porch looking out over the ocean. We decided to have dinner at C’est la vie au bout du monde, a very small but popular establishment that accommodates its guests at two sittings. Patrons are seated at tables of four or six, but must first gather on the front steps, a glass in hand, to review a chalkboard that serves as the only menu. After dinner, guests are invited to write their comments on the walls or ceiling. It was a very special evening; so much so that I was convinced that something bad would happen the next day, just to balance things out. And it did.

The next morning, Sally prepared a wonderful country breakfast in our kitchen. We shopped for local Akaroa pearls in nearby jewelry shops, and had lunch. Around 2 pm, we had to choose whether to play golf on the nearby course, and then drive towards Dunedin; or skip the golf, and venture inland through the mountains to Lake Tepako, famous for its brilliant blue waters.
We made the wrong decision.

We came to Lake Tepako. Since it's a holiday weekend, we booked accommodation en route at the Godley Resort Hotel. I had visions of the lodge at Lake Louise, or a smaller version of the Banff Springs Hotel. But when we arrived, we discovered an un-godly motor lodge in a community that was little more than a collection of highway strip commercial buildings.
There were only a couple of unappetizing restaurants, so we dined in our room on leftover pate, cheese, and fruit purchased at different roadside stands. Fortunately, we had bottles of cabernet and desert wine in our cooler. To pass the time, we decided to rent a DVD player and set out to find Lord of the Rings. While there were dozens of terrible American films to be had, LOR was not available. But we did find Peter Jackson's more recent film, King Kong, and settled in for the next two and a half hours. After twenty minutes, the DVD broke down, and we knew it was time to accept that this would not be our best evening in NZ.

I write about this experience not so much to complain, but to publicly declare that not everything in NZ is perfect. I just can’t understand how the village at Lake Tepako was allowed to turn out so badly, when all the other places we have visited have been so great. If there was a planner involved with Lake Tepako, he must have been hired out of Wyoming.

We are expecting much more from Dunedin. It’s our next stop, where we hope to see the steepest residential street in the world, and meet up with friends of our old friends Mary and Gary Hiscox. Gary is the former manager of Granville Island, but now he and Mary devote their lives to world travels. They are currently house sitting a remove vineyard near Adelaide. I'll bet they didn't stay in Lake Tepako. Otherwise, they would have surely warned us not to come!

At least you are now warned!

ps One good thing did happen in Lake Tepako. Sally got to play golf with her new pink bag!