Akaroa Walking Tour

Akaroa History Tour

New Zealand History Tour
Akaroa Group Tours

Akaroa Walking Tours
Totally designed for your groups interests
Design, Price and Timing on application
Marie can guide groups of all sizes, no group is too big
Marie is the queen of flexibility and adaptability
Suggested prices: Adults: $50, Children $25

REALLY understand Akaroa’s history as few do! This is the ONLY tour to bring to life ALL of Akaroa’s REMARKABLE history!
Guests are amazed at what they learn on this Akaroa Walking Tour

Akaroa Walking Tours

International History

Akaroa’s history sits inside an international context. Marie’s Akaroa Walking Tours include the Napoleonic Wars, American history, French and British Imperial Rivalry for the South Pacific.

Ever thought that New Zealand was ‘just’ an island at the end of the Earth? Think AGAIN!

New Zealand History

What happened in Akaroa influenced the history of New Zealand and the French Purchase of Banks Peninsula led to the Treaty of Waitangi.

You will be amazed at how you didn’t already know this! Why isn’t it taught in schools? Why has this story of New Zealand NEVER been told!

Akaroa History

This is Marie’s story, her ancestors shaped the story of Akaroa. You will feel deeply and emotionally connected to this story which she shares openly and honestly to whomever cares to listen!

You will be amazed, not often does a seventh generation descendant from one small town, tell their own personal family narrative, a narrative through which you can understand the nations international history.

Points of interest

1

French Landing

Learn about the lives of the French settlers who came to live on the other side of the world. The first government backed French settlement attempt in the South Pacific.

2

Catholic Cemetary

Meet Marie’s ancestors! Meet the characters behind the stories. Be amazed at their stories of endurance and hardship, abundance and fertility!

3

Britomart Monument

The PREMIER historic site for the New Zealand Centenary Celebrations in 1940. Since then it has been overlooked and unkept, but Marie is determined to change this and breathe life into the nations history once more.

4

Akaroa Lighthouse

A highlight addition is to arrange a visit for your group to the historic Akaroa Lighthouse. One of the only historic lighthouses in the world that you can go inside!

What Travelers Think

"We have been working with Marie for the past four years as part of our NCEA Level 2 programme, and I highly recommend her. She is easy to deal with, well organised, and makes the day highly enjoyable for both students and staff — it is a highlight of the course for both my students and me. She builds great rapport with students and keeps them interested throughout, and they consistently learn a great deal from the experience. Many comment on how interesting and inspiring the tour is, thanks to her passion and storytelling.
Marie is highly adaptable, tailoring each tour to meet assessment requirements, which adds real value to student learning. Her content is always fresh and engaging, even after multiple years.
I would highly recommend Marie not only for senior History programmes but also as a valuable opportunity for junior Social Studies classes or as part of department professional development. We look forward to continuing to work with her in the future.."

"We went on one of the tours with our school for our history internal, where we focused on the history of Akaroa. We all loved the tour and found it incredibly useful for learning the history of Akaroa."

“We have been working with Marie for the past four years as part of our NCEA Level 2 programme, and I highly recommend her. She is easy to deal with, well organised, and makes the day highly enjoyable for both students and staff — it is a highlight of the course for both my students and me. She builds great rapport with students and keeps them interested throughout, and they consistently learn a great deal from the experience. Many comment on how interesting and inspiring the tour is, thanks to her passion and storytelling. Marie is highly adaptable, tailoring each tour to meet assessment requirements, which adds real value to student learning. Her content is always fresh and engaging, even after multiple years. I would highly recommend Marie not only for senior History programmes but also as a valuable opportunity for junior Social Studies classes or as part of department professional development. We look forward to continuing to work with her in the future.” -

TripAdvisor Review

Canterbury History Teacher.

The Seventh Generation Tours Akaroa offers a range of Akaroa walking tour itineraries for both historic walks and nature walks around Akaroa and Banks Peninsula. Akaroa history walks and Akaroa nature walks are offered as:

cruise Akaroa Walking Tour shore tours,
university group walking tours,
walks for family groups,
garden tour walking groups,
as Akaroa things to do with kids,
for teacher personal development,
Akaroa Catholic pilgrimage historic tours,
conference group walking tours
Christchurch and Canterbury School history walking tours.

Marie can design ANY walking tour to your groups needs! Just ask! Itinerary and pricing designed for your group, just ask!

Reviews consistently recommend this as the Best Akaroa walking tour, this Akaroa walking your will bring to life the Deeper meaning Akaroa and the French history of Akaroa as well as the Maori history of Akaroa as no story can happen in isolation.

Akaroa walks follow around Akaroa Harbour shoreline where many nationally significant historic sites and heritage and culture sites. This is one of the favourite things to do in Akaroa with kids, as Akaroa is made for walking.

Akaroa history is available as a self guided walk, however doing so misses the personal connection with a seventh generation French descendant who is a skilled and trained storyteller who makes history personal and brings New Zealand’s history to life.

See my others guides What to do in akaroa, Akaroa to Christchurch, French history of Akaroa.

There are many options for Akaroa Walking tracks, you can see the Banks Peninsula walks PDF, there is also the Banks Track, the Banks Peninsula 3-day walk, and Onawe pa walk and public roads and walkways, many of which follow traditional Maori walking tracks, there are hikes to the summit from the sea and out to remote beaches on the Wildside through Hinewai Reserve.

The Seventh Generation Tours offers a range of nature walks, especially guided Hinewai nature walks with an expert ecologist guide, Marie Haley. Marie can arrange walks to Hinewai Reserve and Akaroa wildlife walks.

Akaroa is now also revered as a place of Catholic pilgrimage in Akaroa, and The Seventh Generation tours offers Catholic akaroa historic walks to many school groups, catholic school teachers and even to priests. As the site of the first Catholic mass in the South Island and an important site for the story of the Marist missionaries and priests and Bishop Pompallier who consecrated the first Catholic Church land and first Catholic cemetery in the South Island. Marie Haley, your guide, has personal family connections to Bishop Pompallier who baptised family members, and family connections to the Catholic Church and Catholic Cemetery as well.

Akaroa has some of the best walks in New Zealand, both for New Zealand day hikes and multi-day walks as well as Akaroa historic walks. The history of Akaroa is outstanding and the best place in New Zealand for a history tour, with five of the most important historic sites in the country, and many heritage and cultural sites.

Akaroa has key historic walking tracks, and one of the best New Zealand historic walks, with nowhere else like it for New Zealand walking tours. It is the epicentre of historic walking areas in New Zealand. The Takapuneke and Britomart Monument sites and French Akaroa make it a highlight of historic walking tours in New Zealand.

While Akaroa doesn’t have any of the New Zealand Great Walks, many of the South Island Great Walks are accessed from Christchurch International Airport and Akaroa is a great place to visit on arrival to New Zealand and acclimatise and practice for Great Walks on Akaroa’s many and varied day hikes.

One of the highlights of visitors to Akaroa is the gentle street walks, with the ever popular loop from Akaroa Wharf to Akaroa Lighthouse along Beach Road to the Britomart Monument via the important easement from Britomart Monument to Stanley Place and Onuku Road, looping back to Akaroa via the Garden of Tane and Catholic Cemetery. This walk is safe to do as a family and with dogs as it is the only allocated dog walking area in Akaroa. If you are interested in a historic walk with your pooch, Marie can arrange that too! This is one of the most highly recommended Akaroa walks, and most beloved for visitors relaxation and mental health.

An Akaroa Walking Tour also connect nicely with Ōtautahi Christchurch history walks and the many Christchurch walking tours, many guests who walk Christchurch and enjoy a Christchurch heritage and art walking tour then find similarities in the story of Akaroa, which predates Christchurch’s European settlement by 10 years! Akaroa was the first planned European settlement in the South Island and the first French settlement in the South Pacific!

The Seventh Generation Tours doesn’t only provide Akaroa history walks, but also can arrange ecological tours through Hinewai Reserve and Crater Rim Walks around the Akaroa Harbour basin. These walks offer Christchurch living history walks as your guide is a piece of living history, the seventh generation of her family to live here and continuously on the same farm for 187 years and counting, her stories of connection are unbelievable and never fail to move people deeply!

These heritage walking tours are one of the best guided walks in New Zealand, with 100% of reviews being 5- stars consistently over 10-years of operation! The historic walk is the best way to share our stories walking tour and is one of the best New Zealand historic walks and heritage walking tours.

Also on Banks Peninsula is the historic Lyttleton guided walking tour, these Lyttleton historic walks are totally different to Akaroa historic walks with Lyttleton having a very different history with the New Zealand Company planned settlement in 1850 and Lyttleton as the key industrial port for Canterbury. Akaroa however, had events that shaped the history of New Zealand with the British French imperial rivalry in the race for Akaroa and events that led to the Treaty of Waitangi which was signed in Akaroa Harbour.

Taking all three walks, and Akaroa historic walk, and a Christchurch historic walk and a Lyttleton Historic walk would give you an incredible overview of the history of Canterbury. These walks together overview Christchurch through time and give you the best of Christchurch tours, making a perfect Christchurch history walks itinerary. Also worth thinking about is the Godley Head loop track walk, where the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) Radar operators were based in WWII, again your guide Marie Haley has personal family connections to Godley Head as her Grandmother was based there as one of the first Radar operators in New Zealand and also to Tikao Bay Army base as well where her Grandfather was based.