THE GIANTS HOUSE, AKAROA, NEW ZEALAND

While we were in Akaroa we visited the "Giant's House," which  has a garden decorated with mosaic installations. The house was built in 1880 for the first bank manager in Akaroa. It took five years to build and it has an imported, mahogany staircase from France. It was named the Giants House after a small girl looked up at it from the valley below and said, "It is so big it must be a giant's house."

Later the house was bought and restored by artist Josie Martin.Trained as a horticulturalist and artist she combines her two passions throughout her home and garden. Her artworks hang on the many large walls in her house. While she was digging in the garden she found many shards of broken china from the original residents. She thought it too beautiful to throw away and she decided to make mosaic steps and pathways in her garden. This became her hobby for over twenty years. She has added many concrete and mosaic tiled sculptures.  

 The house also has a cafe and a B&B.

 Marja, (blogger friend) was our tour guide. Here she sits at the mosaic piano garden.

The house is perched high up on a hill overlooking Akaroa and the bay.

I enjoyed walking the many mosaic pathways through the garden.

 There were hundreds of different kind of mosaic sculptures and installations.

 Although I found them fascinating and appreciated the hours of work involved in making them, I wasn't sure that I really liked them. I felt some were bordering on kitsch.

I thought this one was interesting.

PRETTY AKAROA, NEW ZEALAND

One day I was scrolling through my friends blogs when I came across some beautiful photos on Marja's blog. They were of Akaroa in New Zealand, one of her favourite places. I thought I would love to go there one day. So I did! We were so lucky because Marja and William showed us the places for good photos.

View from a lookout 

The little township of Akaroa nestles on the edge of the bay. It was originally settled by a french community and there is still evidence of that in the village. We drove down the windy road into the main street.

 We walked through the town with our new friends. There were lots of eateries as it is quite a tourist destination.

 There were many quaint little cottages with nice gardens.

 We walked along the esplanade to the end where we ate at a restaurant on the edge of the bay.

On the way home we drove up the steep hill to Heritage Park Lookout. The scenery was just beautiful.

A fun place for photographers.

MEETING ANOTHER BLOGGER AND FISHERMAN'S BAY GARDEN-AKAROA NEW ZEALAND

I mentioned to Marja of 'A Dutch Corner  in New Zealand" blog, that we were going to NZ and I was keen to see Akaroa because I had seen her beautiful photos of this area near Christchurch. Marja offered to be our hosts for a weekend. She and William were wonderful to us. They took us sight seeing and offered us to stay overnight. They are great tour guides as they are very passionate about NZ.

Marja and William our wonderful blogging friends and tour guides. The first place they took us to was  Fisherman's Bay Garden. It was developed by Jill and Richard Simpson, who turned their once rugged farm into a lush combination of flower beds, natives and green lawns that still remembers its farming past. This idyllic garden offers breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean and the stark beauty of Banks Peninsula.

There were many sculptures too.

After this our friends took us to see the views overlooking Akaroa and we visited the village. (next post).