Akaroa

Onuku Farm Hostel

The Stargazer & Mr. Steve 

The Stargazer at Onuku farm –Cbird had this place skoped out from even before we started planning this trip. They have these sweet, tiny cabins with a part of the roof made of plexiglass so you can look out at the stars at night. Perched at the edge of the resort on a hillside, we shared this retreat with a nice sheep we named Steve, or whatever… there was a big old sheep there with us pretty much the whole time guarding our hut either way. He was sweet and let us pet him. He would not, however, allow CBird to ride him. Kinda lame, Steve.

Sweet Steve

On the way in we saw a stoat cross the road… kinda like a tiny, skinny weasel that eats birds and eggs (not native –brought from Europe for their fur). We had some “meh” cod fish and chips on the pier on the way in… Raglan Fish and Chips rule the roost so far.

"Meh" Fush n' Chups

Wild peacocks roost in the trees here. Lotsa Germans everywhere (just like everywhere else in this country) –some even living kinda permanently at the hostel. CUTE farm and GREAT location overlooking the bay.

Early am getting ready to get our "hike-on" to get some muscles! 

We woke up around eight and headed out to catch the low tide at the muscle beds in a rocky bay a short hike (a few miles) down a private track on the farm. The muscle beds were down a treacherous cliff a few hundred meters down from the main track. CBird provided heaps of entertainment by basically falling down the steepest part aided by the rope hung from a tree to help in descending the cliffs –quite fun all around (she made it out with only a few scratches and a bruised ego). We found the most magnificent, tastiest, green lip muscles we have ever laid eyes on. 

Millions of muscles!!

We ate them for lunch with a white wine butter sauce and lemons and had enough left over to save a batch for later.

Beautiful 

Two TINY crabs we found inside our muscles

That was tasty!

The Weather here started windy and rainy and ended windy and rainy –we had some nice weather the rest of the time, though! We chilled down here… No phone, no internet… a few naps and hikes. 

Our stay at Onuku was pretty relaxing overall with nice people all around.