The Land of the Long White Cloud.... part 1.....

After a week spent mingling in the sunshine with the beautiful people of Sydney (and sticking out like sore thumbs in our rags!), we arrived into Christchurch, New Zealand. Where it felt more like we'd just arrived in the Arctic. It was bloomin freezing compared to what we'd just spent the past 6 months in !!! We were met by friends from home, Zoe and Mark who both moved out here a few years ago, and whisked off to their pad in the hills on the outskirts of the city where we spent the next month or so coming back down to earth with a huge bump whilst the hunt for work began.....!

Now, 6 or so months on, we are back into the swing of the Western world (even if somewhat backwards....!), back into the old "work/life" routine. Its hard to think now that just several months ago we were spending our days being jostled and bumped around along dusty roads in the back of tuk tuks and haggling over about 50p for a room with barely a bed, cold showers and a flushing toilet if we were lucky !

It took us a few weeks to find work, Nath went out into the big wide kiwi world of work a couple of weeks before me, which was actually quite weird after spending the last 6 months 24/7 together ! Hes had a couple of jobs until this current one where he is now installing glass splashbacks in posh kitchens, and I have been working in a call centre of a big electricity company which is bloomin awful !! But it has meant we have been able to save up some cash so we can travel on around the country in our little campervan that we bought with our last few pennies when we first arrived ! Shes bright blue, and called Roxy ! Although I can't actually remember how that came about now....!?! And although my job is rubbish, it is quite a social place so we have made some friends there which is always nice !

So after we'd found work we moved out of Zoe and Mark's place and into a little flat in the city, which meant I could walk to work and was closer for Nath to drive to his. Besides working our little socks off, we've managed to get away in our Roxy van for the odd weekend. Christchurch is really well located, just a couple hours drive out of the city and we can be in the most stunning places ! Although winter soon kicked in, and it became way to cold to brave the elements in the van, even with our little gas heater I insisted on ! We have never experienced a cold like it I dont think, it got absolutely bitterly freezing and I think the worst of it was due to the fact our flat was like a small shed. There is no insulation in houses here, no central heating, and no double glazing. So we spent most of our time huddled around a small oil heater wearing our thermals and woolies. You could even see our breath inside it was so damn cold !! On the plus side though, the mountains that you can see from the city were covered in snow, and sooooo pretty. As well as being cold, it was also usually bright blue skies and sunny so the views were spectacular.

Nath went on his first tramp (the kiwi equivalent of hiking!) with Mark and Adam during our first few weeks here before it got really cold. The Department of Conservation (DOC) have huts strategically placed in the middle of nowhere here, so you can go on all kinds of mapped tramps to these huts where you can then stay over night. They're pretty basic, mainly having a wood burner and bunks to bed down on for the night, but pretty cosy !

Brad and Laura arrived in here in NZ a couple months after us as well, and kitted themselves out with the obligatory campervan, called Hugo ! So after a week spent shivering in our front room and taking in the sights of Christchurch (!) we all headed south for the a weekend by Lake Tekapo and in the Mount Cook area, which was covered in snow and really beautiful ! Pretty darn cold in the vans though !! We did some really nice walks and then relaxed in some hot springs overlooking the lake mountains, bliss !

Til next time for more New Zealand and Fiji......!

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