Hello,
I have spent my last day in New Zealand today. I went to the 'Paris of New Zealand': Akaroa... A French village in New Zealand... I left in the bus as of Christchurch... It was meant to be a total French day for me: the bus company was called the 'French connection', the interior of the bus was: red seats and the rest was in blue and white... After 80km we could see the first part of Akaroa, called 'Duchauville'... I wonder how those New Zealand people pronounce that...
What happened? In 1838, there was a French captain, Monsieur Langlois, who found the Akaroa Bay very good for settlement. He went to Paris and came back with a ship full of French in order to settle in NZ and claim the land for France... However, when they arrived in 1840, they find out that the British had already gained control over whole New Zealand. They negociated with the British and they had 2 options: stay under British rule or go to Tahiti, a French colony. They decided to stay... I can understand why, because the bay is VERY beautiful!
Today, 167 years later, the inhabitants are still VERY proud of their French origine and you can see the French flag everywhere. Most streetnames are still in French and you can hear a lot of French in the streets as well... But that is just because this is a 'must-do' for all French tourists here!:)
Tomorrow, I will take the plane to Tasmania...:)
Take care, Ruben
 |
| Ruben in Newzealand - Akaroa |
No comments:
Post a Comment