Postman for a Day

Grandma C works very hard at organising our holidays.

When researching shore excursions on our cruise to New Zealand (via Melbourne) last month, though, she found the ones offered by the ship, the  Golden Princess, to be very expensive.

Indeed, some of the shore excursion for a day trip were about $300 each.

Looking for more affordable alternatives on the net, she chanced on this interesting offer by New Zealand Post.

In the little town of Akaroa, on the eastern coast of the South Island, close to Christchurch, the enterprising local franchisee of NZ Post offers rides with the postman as he does his 120 km mail run.

This is the van we travelled in.

On the day we arrived at Akaroa, we took the tender ashore and waited for the mailman to arrive.  Interestingly, there was another couple from our ship who had also booked this tour.

The Golden Princess at anchor on the left, and a Holland-America Line ship on the right.

Another three passengers, from the Holland-America Line ship had also found and booked this ride.

The very scenic120 km mail run took about 5 hours, and we paid NZ$80 each for the privilege.

Decanter Bay - The road on the left hillside brought us to this point.

Delivering a case of wine to a thirsty farmer

Some of the stuff to be delivered

In this location, a number of letter boxes were housed in this shed, protected from bad weather.

Mid morning, we had a tea break with snacks.

Of course, we had the occasional traffic jam

Grandma C, on the beach of a beautiful bay

Beautiful country roads

My GPS track of our meanderings that day

Akaroa town centre

A view of Akaroa town

We were very surprised to learn that 120 cruise ships a year visit this little town.  That's about 2 ships a week.  A great side business for the NZ Post franchisee here in Akaroa.