Random thoughts

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Just chilled out in Christchurch today. Not a very exciting place, it did strive to be very british once but is recovering from that now, but we did see some Kiwis which were very cute and interesting!
It's very odd waking in the dark and wondering where I am and what day it is and having to fumble my way to the loo in a strange room almost every night! Falling over things and looking for the light switch ... It's not all fun, there's the laundry for example every 3 or 4 days it piles up and has to be done! It's amazing how many dirty clothes a teenage boy produces especially when he wears 2 or 3 tops and sometimes two pairs of jeans when it's cold!! And it has been here on the sth Island!
It's a very diverse and intersting place. the landscape is primeavel, both the alpine regions and the rainforests. I would be only mildly surprised it a dinosaur strolled out of the forest! The coach drivers and a very good source of info. We drove over the fault line yesterday and one told us they have 2000 registered earth quakes every year and that the mountains are only 6 million years old and are still growing so it's a relatively young island. I actually felt a tremor yesterday evening! The west coast gets 15 feet rain a year!!! Imagine! Ireland would disappear under the sea but the forests here soak it up like a giant sponge!
So far we've been busing it and it's been great as I said earlier the drivers know all the best places to stop and are full of info. Another interesting fact is there are 4 million people and over 50 million sheep!!
We'll be hiring a car from friday when we arrive on the north island so I'll miss the drivers but it'll give us more freedom!
Off to bed as we have another early start to Kaikoura tomorrow to see the whales and then on the ferry to wellington the following day. Less than 2 weeks to go now and I don't know how I'm ever going to settle down again!!

Oh yes, the train ride was great! Fabulous scenery ( as usual) and getting blown away on the viewing platform.. And for anyone interested in trains, we went through an 8.5 k tunnell which has to have the fumes extracted and fresh air pumped in. It took 15 mins to get through! How fast was it going?? I don't know but work it out and let me know!!!!

I did say they were random thoughts

Helen

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Comments

[David]

Approx 21.5 mph

[Caoimhe]

34km/h. Fairly leisurely...

[Breda]

bright spark just noticed the comment box now !!
Hi ya all ! Wow the holiday of a lifetime! We have to have a major week-end visit soon to hear all about it. Sounds like the weather over there is similar to here at the moment - rain, rain and more rain.......went to Donington Park last week-end and spent the day up to our eyes in muck! I think I prefer watchin the motogp on TV.........yeah I know, WIMP ! House sale is set for 7th August (we arrive on the 5th) so hopefully this won't change and we might actually have somewhere for you to visit next year - mind you even the weather in France is diabolical at the moment. Anyway I'll sign off for now but delighted you're having such a fabulous time. Give our love to all...........cheers, the connemara bunch !