hyuqy

So here we are at last. After 2 hangovers (pretty good I think!), 7 capital cities, 8 flights (and 2 more to go), 35 beds, 87 days, 1322 photos and more money than I'd like to consider, I'm finally heading home. The airport shuttle comes to pick me up in 4 hours, and from then it's a mere 25 hours until I land at Heathrow! I thought I'd use this final entry to list the highlights of what's been an absolutely amazing trip. Everyone who comes to these two beautiful countries will have their own list of must-dos and must-sees, but this is my personal list of moments that I'll always remember. I've listed them in chronological order. - Swimming under waterfalls in the Northern Territory - Drinking wine and eating nibbles as the sun set ... read more

Yesterday I went on a daytrip to Akaroa which is a small town about an hour away from Christchurch. It was briefly a French settlement until we told them where to get off trying to claim land that we'd already taken, so is supposed to have a very French feel. Personally I thought it was all incredibly English, with hills that reminded me of the Malverns. I spent a nice day pottering about, looking in craft shops and taking photos of lighthouses and doing all the usual things. While I was walking around at about 3.30, I spotted a couple of deciduous trees (pretty rare in these parts) with leaves that were turning orange and brown. In the afternoon light I suddenly had a very strong feeling that it was October which was most disconcerting. It's ... read more

I've spent the last couple of days exploring two of the top five attractions in Christchurch. Yesterday morning I caught the bus out towards Lyttleton and went on the gondola up to the hills overlooking the city. There was a bit of mist around but it wasn't too bad at all and I had good views in both directions. On the other side of the hill from the city is Lyttleton Harbour, where the first settlers landed. After months at sea they would have had to walk up the long, steep slope to where I stood, carrying their children and all their possessions, and then walk down the other side to the swampy land that would become the city. Once they arrived they had to live in tents until they'd built the first solid houses. I ... read more

It's official - I love Christchurch! The city is amazingly English - it's like a condensed version of just the pretty parts of the country, with the River Avon flowing through the centre near to Worcester Boulevard, Hereford Street, Oxford Terrace and Cambridge Terrace. You can even go punting in a boat driven by a man in a striped blazer! It's all faintly bizarre but very pretty and pleasant to walk around. This morning I visited the Arts Centre which is housed in buildings that used to belong to Canterbury University before its relocation to an out of town campus. The buildings are all beautiful neo-Gothic structures and add to the feeling that this could be England. Today being Sunday all the market stalls were out, selling products that had been made in the workshops within ... read more

My grand exploration of New Zealand is finally over! Our tour ended today with a meal here in Christchurch, and now I have a week to explore this city before heading home to England. From what I've seen I'm really going to like it here, although I can't wait to get back now and see everyone again. You may have seen my pictures of Fox Glacier which I linked to from my last post. I spent an amazing morning on the upper ice, having flown up there in a helicopter with five other people from my group. We strapped crampons to our feet, learned how to walk in them and then spent two hours tramping about on the ice finding tunnels, holes and crevasses. The first twenty minutes were quite scary as I learned how to ... read more

My photos are finally up! You can find them here: Wellington and Mount Doom - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47110&l=777ac&id=503895728 Abel Tasman - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47112&l=b93c4&id=503895728 Whales and dolphins - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47113&l=8d752&id=503895728 Christchurch to Fox - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47114&l=76ff3&id=503895728 Glacier hiking - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47119&l=46ce7&id=503895728 Queenstown - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47121&l=3a81c&id=503895728 I survived the hang gliding and it was completely amazing. I also had a fab time looking at the beautiful scenery on the Dart River. I've got to go now as we're heading off to Milford Sound, but I'll update soon on the last few days of my tour!... read more

It's about time for an update! No photos this time I'm afraid - I have so many that they're going to take ages to upload so I'll do a big job lot when I have some time - probably when we get back to Christchurch. I'm now in the South Island which is absolutely beautiful! We ended our stay in the North with a great night out in Wellington: a meal in a local restaurant and then drinks at the bar where we were staying which was surprisingly stylish aside from the long table that made up the dance floor! It was ladies night so we had free sparkling wine, and then there were lots of games to be played including a dance-off which Lisa won - her prize was a $50 bar tab so she ... read more

I've been having a great time on the North Island this week! The weather has been grey and rainy for a few days but we've had glorious sunshine today and seen some wonderful scenery. My tour group is really friendly and almost everyone gets on well, and our leaders are great fun and cook delicious meals. It's been a fab trip so far and looks set to get even better as we travel south! We started off with two nights in Paihia, which is in the Bay of Islands. We didn't have brilliant weather and I didn't fancy any of the optional activities that were on offer, so I went for a walk with Lisa on our free day here and saw some of the scenery. It was quite pretty but I wouldn't necessarily recommend travelling ... read more

Firstly, I should let you know that I've now been able to upload the photos that belong to my previous entry, but only to Facebook. If you click back into the entry, there's a link that will take you straight to the right page even if you're not a member of Facebook or I'm not on your friends list. For some reason the photo uploading feature on here still isn't working, but at least you can see my pictures now with the added bonus of them being much sharper - Facebook doesn't shrink them as much as this website does. I've done the same for this entry too and you can find the link to those pictures at the bottom. Yesterday I headed to Waiheke Island which is about half an hour from Auckland by boat. ... read more

UPDATE: You can now view the photos that belong to this blog on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45379&l=c90e4&id=503895728. You can do this even if you're not a member of Facebook or if I'm not on your friends list. While you're there, feel free to add me! No, I haven't become an extra in a disaster film - the volcanos I'm talking about are strictly of the extinct variety. Over the last two days I've climbed up three of them and while they haven't exploded in a shower of lava, they have provided some fab views. Yesterday I completed the 10 mile Coast to Coast Walk in 4.5 hours including lunch, which I think is pretty good going! The walk took me from the main harbour through the Domain park, up and down Mount Eden, through Cornwall Park, up ... read more