Daily Photo – Akaroa War Memorial

When at last I arrived in Akaroa, I checked in at the Grand Central Hotel, where I was booked for several nights. I dropped my bags on the bed, had a quick rummage around the room, then headed straight back out onto the main street for a wander.

It was late afternoon, that in-between hour when the hospitality world quietly shifts from day to evening. Tables were being cleared, chairs nudged into place, menus swapped over, and family groups gathered on corners, pointing in various directions as they tried, with mixed success, to agree on dinner.

At the end of Rue Lavaud the shops gave way, replaced by a large garden reserve. At its centre stands the Akaroa war memorial, surrounded by benches and carefully tended gardens. Rising from the middle is an elaborate, free-standing cupola, complete with a granite spire and flying buttresses, proudly displaying the names of those remembered from war. As far as war memorials go, it’s a rather impressive one, the sort of structure that seems to have been designed with great confidence and then left to quietly get on with the job ever since.