http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , New Zealand , South Island , Christchurch en-us Wed, 09 Dec 09 00:45:30 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 09 00:45:30 +0000 Moved my stuff up into my new room all mine Hehehe. Itrsquos a big room with my own double bed and HUGE windows. Threw my bags in and then headed down to reception to start my training. Tom showed me the ropes. I only did a couple of hours today as there is a lot to learn. Itrsquos fun though. Today was one of the cleaner girls birthday so we had cake at lunch time for her. Everyone who w http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-458227.html We woke up to a rainy gloomy day. I decided since my birthday was coming up I would go see a movie. So I caught a bus down to the movie theatres for a matinee. Well NZ doesnrsquot do matinee prices so for me to see a movie it cost 16 NZD Yikes Thats just for the movie. Also in NZ they do this assigned seating thing for the movies which is weird to me. I understand when itrsquos a bus http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-458223.html Sunday November 29thWe woke to a beautiful sunny day. Itrsquos hard to believe that the rivers flooded yesterday. Oh the fickle New Zealand weather We werenrsquot complaining though. We wanted our van finished and packed before the end of the day.We made tasty apple and cinnamon oats for breakfast then Ferdi set about finishing the last bits of the van while Talita tried her hand at Beer Br http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-458200.html I slept really good this hostel is great I walked over to the supermarket in the morning and then met back up with Carolyn since we were going to walk into town and then go and try to find a cheaper store that sold jade that she found out about. On our way out though Tom caught me and pulled me into his office.I GOT THE JOB He was really impressed with me and said that I fit in really well http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-458018.html Was up early and on a bus back to Christchurch by 930am. We pulled in to Christchurch at 145pm. I strapped on all my bags and set off for The Old Country House for my bed for the night and the place for my job interview. Got myself checked in and found Carolyn in my room. This is a different Carolyn I met her in Picton as well but she was just staying at Sequoia Lodge. Shersquos from Connecti http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-457797.html I met up with Yvonne and Julia two girls I worked with in Picton and we did a bit of shopping before Julia decided that she wanted to get her ears pierced. So I took her to a piercingtattoo shop and got her ears pierced. I'm not sure if it's because I have so many piercings that these girls always want me to take them haha but i'm cool with it. After dinner I met back up with Yvi and Julia and http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-455656.html Ok so no one told me that the links to the facebook albums isn't working so thanks guys Also I love to get and read comments from you guy so make sure to leave some comments because I really appreciate all of themI have put the fixed up links here for you to see them. Oct 23 Picton boat trip Tranzscenic Christchurch http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-455140.html The time has come and it is indeed a rare occasion for me to write a blog. I think the last time was in our fair city back in 2005. I remember hogging the one computer at a busy backpackers called Vagabonds.....Today I sit contented in our home office looking out of the window at the blue skies of Canterbury watching baby Monarch butterflies bouncing off one of our sunkissed swan plants besi http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-453762.html Ok so since I haven't really done that much since I got here to Christchurch except look for a job I will put the last week and a half into one blog. Sorry it's a long one. Nov 6I had a terrible nightrsquos sleep. An english guy in my room has a terrible cough and when he wasnrsquot coughing he was snoring so loud I asked to move rooms which was no problem. I headed into town and looked aroun http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-453733.html This morning we flew to the South Island of New Zealand to Christchurch. It was freezing here About 9 C or 50F. When we arrived at the airport we picked up our rental car Toyota Yaris Manual Steve's a driving and headed to the International Antarctic Centre. This attraction is located adjacent to the airport and was an interactive and chilling experienceI learned Christchurch is known as http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-452372.html Hey AllWe had booked a whale watching trip at Kaikoura so Sunday morning we were up early to pick up the rental car. Kaikoura is about 150km north of Christchurch. Stopped for breakfast before we really hit the road though Russ was siked about getting a full english. The driving is just like in the UK although Russ did all the driving and as usual I acted as navigator.The drive there took us http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-449880.html Ello AllWe arrived in Christchurch at around 4 on Friday. The temperature difference was noted straight away it is freezing Nice and sunny but much colder than Australia we have had to ditch the shorts and go for jeans and hoodies booh The air feels crisp and fresh which is lovelyWe got a bus from the airport to the city centre. Christchurch itself is very very British looking. It is http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-449856.html A strange but wonderful thing happened as we were travelling around the southern tip of the South Island. On the advice of several people in Milford Sound we set off on the Catlins Scenic Drive. The rain was pouring down there were sheep and baby lambs everywhere and it was all very green looking. It was like we had been transport home to Ireland I say it is a wonderful thing because while I http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-448026.html Aftan langa biti so kemur enn ein bloggur endilga uppUm Amerika var landi vi teimum stru mltiunum og ikki minst stru sodavatnunum og Tahiti kanska landi vi t stru slini og strondini so hevur New Zealand llum fri veri landi vi teimum stru upplivingunumVit komu fyrst til Auckland aftan at hava sovi flogvllinum Papeete og san eftir ein langan flogtr. T vit http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-447910.html They say that the south island is more spectacular than the north its certainly bigger and got less people and with so few people in such a vast expanse ominously the locals have apparently 'adapted' to become a rugged and individual breed. Our plan was to travel down the length of the west coast on State Hwy 6 as far south as Queenstown and then double back crossing over to the east coast t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-444505.html Need to work until I win the lottery and my first job offer fell through so decided to go to Christchurch. Registered with temp agencies but not much work about . Did however get one job for a while in a health board call centre despite not knowing anything at all about illness or medicine. Weird. By now though I think I know absolutely everything there is to know about the piggysniffles. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-442794.html I love it here. Of all of my travels this place is somewhere I could see myself never leaving. It must be something in the air.The flight that was supposed to leave NZ for McMurdo Station never left the ground yesterday. There are all of these rumors none of which I know for sure because I haven't checked my work email in days Nonetheless I'm stuck in this lovely country until Monday for s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-441617.html The long difficult flight is over. And it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. I completley missed 930 due to flying through time zones and it is now 102 in New Zealand. 102 The second anniversary of the worst day of my life. It's kind of strange being in New Zealand alone but it's also a little confusing. It's 102 here but it's only 101 in the States. So what day is it Not that http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-441310.html It should be mentioned that we spent about a week and a half in Hamilton for Aaron's orientation. Hamilton which is a larger city an hourandahalf northwest of Rotorua gets a bad rap for being a place where there's not much going on. However we found it to be quite nice. It has a reasonably big downtown area with lots of nice restaurants and boutiques. There are also the stellar Hamilton Gar http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-437536.html So Saturday morning wasn't the earliest of starts but I eventually got moving and gave Steve the warning I was leaving. He dragged himself out of bed looking very green around the gills. After a quick questioning it transpired he hadn't got home till 7am so was dying on his feet.Needless to say he wasn't the best of company on the drive to Christchurch. He managed to stay awake for the first ho http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-435838.html