Blogs from Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania
Settling down, Christchurch style....
Published: May 23rd 2012Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Christchurch
May 21st 2012
Since we have had a few weeks in our new abode we thought we should put pen to paper so to speak and fill you in on our adventures of late. As we write we are a mere two weeks off the official start to winter. The weather has turned but nothing like the October/ November equivalent of the UK. There is snow on the mountains and the ski season starts in a few weeks but the days are still sunny. It only really gets cold when you come in from the sun. Enough of the weather... Our new cabin as we like to call it is in the Addington district of ChCh it backs onto the Crusaders Rugby stadium, we could not get any nearer. This is two star accommodation so is cheap but we ... read more
ADELAIDE TO CHRISTCHURCH
Published: May 19th 2012Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Christchurch
May 19th 2012
OZ to NZ Travel and the first night in CHRISTCHURCH. Our journey was a two legged hop, Adelaide to Melbourne and Melbourne to Christchurch. We had an early drop of at Adelaide Airport by my brother-in-law Peter and a swift journey through airport security and on to the boarding gate – things were going too well ....... I knew we might have a delayed take off when the plane hadn’t arrived by our departure time. Jet-Star was very quick to turn the plane around after its arrival though – well recovered Jet-Star. Jet-Star wouldn’t book our luggage through from Adelaide to Christchurch, rather we had to pick it up at Melbourne and re-check it in at the same airport – don’t know if this was another money saving idea by Jet-star, but it was ... read more
April 29th 2012
Heisann – ALLE kjente og kjære! Nå vinker me straks hade bra te New Zealand også. Og det legger seg til i rekken av land me gjerne vil reise tilbake til. Turen vår fra Auckland, på toppen av Nordøya, og ned te Christchurch på Sørøya har gått skummelt fort! Men sånn er det vel når ein nesten reiser videre hver dag. Har blitt mykje pakking opp og pakking ned av sekken, og me er vel begge enige om at me er ein smule lei av det nå. Me føler oss nesten som skilpadder, med huset vårt på ryggen! Sååå, late dager på Fiji ska nyyytas maksimalt. Håper på sol og varme(og IKKJE flom og orkaner, sånn som det har vært der den siste tida). Været her på New Zealand har vært superbra de vekene me har ... read more
April 17th 2012
17 Apr 12. Tuesday in ChCh. Had best ever nights sleep. Yesterday was lovely weather but awoke this morning to grey overcast drizzle and cold breeze. 9.30am and off to pick up the KEA Camper. Within 5 mins of ringing the local depot a taxi was at our motel door, paid for by Kea and took us there. Full marks to Kea, they gave us a most comprehensive briefing, over an hour and went over every minute detail. We are very impressed as we have an almost new 2 berth model with all the mod cons. Shower/loo, full kitchen equipped, microwave, large fridge, stove, HD TV, DVD, etc, etc..Ford Transit. Then went shopping to a supermart out near Rosemary & Geoff's place and with Rosemary helping Mary & I around her familiar store aisles we helped ... read more
April 16th 2012
Flew over last night from Perth, althought it seems like it was several days ago. A very tiring night with no sleep and arrived at Aucklkand at 2am our time (Perth time and 6am NZ time. the dawn was just breaking into an absolutely beautiful day with clear skies and lots of fog around the hills. However we were too tired to appreciate it as we had to go thru customs and quarantine and then re check thru domestic terminal to catch our flight to Christchurch an hour later. We had to carry our checked baggage to another section then WALK (stagger and puff!) almost a kilometer along a "green painted line" to the domestic terminal. This is outside along the road, at 3am we were glad it was fine. The flight down to Christchurch was ... read more
April 11th 2012
Tue 10 Apr ----------- Christchurch for 2 days. An uneventful journey, not too much to look at on the way. This coast has no lakes & mountains but it has lots of fields and it is still pretty. Weather is overcast when we left but drove into sunshine and it wasn't a bad day but the weather does seem to be changing now. Christchurch is still suffering badly from the Feb 2011 earthquake which devastated the city. There are so many places you just can't enter because it is too dangerous. We went for a walk in the botanical gardens and that's pretty much all we did in the afternoon. Wed 11 Apr ------------ Ourt last day today in New Zealand. It's raining. We suppose the good weather couldn't last forever. We were supposed to be ... read more
Hello New Zealand! Christchurch
Published: April 12th 2012Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Christchurch
April 6th 2012
6th April ’12 KL to Christchurch, New Zealand 5.30am came around all too quickly and we stumbled about gathering our rucksacks and making our way downstairs to our lift to the airport. Everything went quite quickly and easily at the airport and we boarded our Air Asia 10 hour flight to NZ. Being Air Asia there were no films or fancy entertainment consoles (unfortunately) but we managed to watch one on the netbook and read and time passed. Then we landed at Christchurch and the culture shock began! All the staff were super friendly and everyone spoke English! The only hold up occurred when they asked if we had any boots with us and then we had to go to another area to have my hiking boots checked – they took them away and cleaned them ... read more
Serenity, Calamity, Insanity
Published: April 2nd 2012Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Christchurch
April 2nd 2012
On our way to Christchurch we detoured to the Mount Cook National Park - Mount Cook is the highest moutain in NZ at 3,800 m. 50% of the time Mount Cook is obscured by clouds. On Dick's 66th birthday this is certainly the way it started out, as we trekked up a very steep, rocky path for 1.5 hours. Suddenly, we emerged above the clouds on to a plateau to be greeted by a truly magical scene of Mount Cook and the surrounding peaks and glaciers bathed in brilliant sunlight. After spending two serene hours drinking in the scenery Dick's need to get down from the heights compelled us to tackle the most difficult part - descending - which felt like stepping off the mountain side into thin air. In September 2010 and in February 2011 ... read more
Time to move on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Published: March 15th 2012Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Christchurch
March 15th 2012
Well the bike is sorted and its time to hit the road, been readung up on some places to see, after the ride to Lake Tekapo, and an overnight im going to head up to mount Cook which is 3764 ft above sea level and New Zealands highest mountain(hope i dont run into ant ORC'S) come on we have all seen Lord of the Rings, the weather is changable. its on with the thermals. hopefully i will be able to beam some fantastic photos back, if you view my blog please just drop a comment, such as:- hiya just viewed, i can see how many views but dont know who by. anyway enough chat. Ta Ta for now Sam... read more
