It's nice to be home...

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Please note to view maps you must click on the titles as there are two this time!

Day 26 - Sydney - Christchurch

First thing is first - Sydney is a rubbish airport! Not as bad as Paris CDG but still pretty poor. I had visions of Aussie's swigging Fosters and BBQ's but unfortunately it is the same as every airport in the world and you have to pay a fortune for everything - even water (at least at Heathrow you have WH Smiths and Weatherspoons)! Anyways after our 3 hour stop we got on the flight to Christchurch and slept for most of it. We awoke just in time to see some familiar looking farmland on the approach.
We then had to contend with New Zealand customs. Turning up in NZ with a British passport is like turning up with a Columbian passport at Miami airport (not that I'm entirely sure what that feels like) but instead of being interested in cocaine it's the mud on your boots! After we said we had been in Thailand they didn't seem to bothered about much (I guess we looked quite healthy) but they still took my boots away for a super good clean. If you are going to New Zealand just declare on your customs form that you have muddy boots and they will clean them really well - don't do it before you go!
We caught the bus from the airport and it felt like driving through any little town in England. We then got to our hostel and got some Fish and Chips (although Kiwis say Fush and Chups) for a staggering £1.60. You can literally see pure joy on my face in the picture - I don't think I've had fish and chips that good ever, and after all that curry and rice in Thailand it was amazing. We went to the supermarket to buy our food for the next few days and then headed out to a pub called the Twisted Hop and then a little bar called Le Plonk - both very nice.

Day 27 - Christchurch

We used the whole day to explore the city of Christchurch and instead of using the tram we decided to walk the tram track and stop off at all the free tourist attractions on the way. We started off with the Art Gallery, followed by the Arts Centre. The Arts Centre was a real highlight (I think you can tell what Sarah thought of the Art Gallery - Rob), with different rooms for different crafts such as bone carving, wool, pottery etc. It was more like a permanent crafts fair and of course it had a trusty Fudge Cottage which had the best fudge ever. It was then onto the Canterbury Museum which was also surprisingly good, and was a bit like the Natural History Museum. The history of the Maori people was really interesting and all the Maori Wood Carvings and Jewelry is really cool. We then took a walk along The Avon river (there is the option of punting but I think it is just too English to do in New Zealand) and around the Botanical and Rose Gardens. After about 4.5 hours of walking we decided we deserved a drink at the recommended pub "Dux de Lux", which definitely met all expectations. They have their own micro brewery on site and had some really tasty brews. Finally it was off to take a quick look in the cathedral before heading back to the hostel for dinner (pasta and chili sauce).
After dinner we headed off to the AMI stadium to see the mighty Canterbury Crusaders in action against local rivals the Wellington Hurricanes. They (Canterbury) won the Super 14 last year and are regarded (round these parts anyway) as the best Rugby team in the world. Before the match we found a working man's club for a few drinks and soaked up the pre-game atmosphere. It was a Friday night match and there were lots of traveling fans from Wellington so it was nice. As Christchurch is regarded as the English city in NZ this is where they get their name from as well as why they have a giant "King Arthur" style sword (complete with flames) and knights which ride around the pitch before kickoff. As some of you may know Rob does enjoy the pomp and ceremony of these kind of events (probably why he likes American sports) and was like a small child when a NZ Navy Sea King helicopter hovered onto the pitch and dropped off the head ball boy with the match ball! Unfortunately we didn't catch Canterbury on one of their good days and after an awful display of kicking from their no. 10 and sloppy play from the backs they lost 30-24. On the way home there were plenty of traveling fans making themselves heard.

Day 28 - Christchurch

We took a local bus to the Christchurch Gondola and hopped on for the ride up to the viewpoint with the Harbour of Lyttelton on one side of the mountain and the City of Christchurch on the other. The weather was rubbish so the view was not very good at all, with clouds making up the majority of the scenery. I was very pleased to have bought a waterproof the day before - it was perfect timing. There was number of different walks we could take and after a little debating we choose the 2.5 hour Crater Rim Walkway (named as it was around the edge of an extinct volcano) which took us all the way down to Lyttelton. The walk was pretty tough, with both ups and downs and it was definitely an unbeaten track but the views throughout the walk were amazing (even with the looming cloud). We only saw one other person the whole time so I do not think it is the first choice walk for families but it was very rewarding. Near the start of the walk I slipped on a rock and ended up face first in the mud. Rob was so concerned I might have hurt myself he didn’t get a photo but afterwards he assured me I was in a very hilarious position!
The town of Lyttelton was nothing very special but it had good cafes to choose from! Luckily it only started to really rain once we were under the bus stop cover waiting to catch the bus back to Christchurch.
During our travels the day before we spied a really cute little cinema near the Arts Centre that was playing Slumdog Millionaire this Saturday evening. We decided this might be our last chance to catch it at the cinema, so we spent the evening once again back at the cinema.

Day 29 - Christchurch - Kaikoura

The weather was much better today, the sun had finally come out and the waterproof that I had had to buy was going to the bottom of the bag. It was amazing the change in weather conditions, but I guess that is what happens during English summers too.
It was the first day of our Kiwi Experience. The coach left early morning for the fairly long trip to Kaikoura from Christchurch. The coach was everything we were expecting, with the drivers/guides being really friendly etc. I would say the downside is that they organise too much for you, organising where you stay, ferry tickets, activities etc and it is much nicer to organise it all yourself. Luckily it also gives you the opportunity to be independent so you can use their services as much as you please so it will be nice to use them only when we want! It is a bit of a scam really because they obviously have contracts with certain activity companies so it is best not to get sucked into their talk.
Anyway, we arrived in Kaikoura at about Midday so only had the afternoon to explore. As we were not going whale watching or dolphin swimming we went on a 3 hour walk around the peninsula, via the seal colony. The walk was beautiful, with the sea in one direction and the mountains in the other. It reminded me of a coastal walk in Cornwall but the mountain view added just that little bit extra. The seal colony on the other hand was a little disappointing - we only saw 2 dead looking (although Rob reassures me that they were not) seals. Apparently it was because they were all hunting, but I thought we would see loads 😞. Another highlight (note the ongoing food theme!) was the seafood BBQ stall half-way through the walk, where we both tucked into a BBQ’d fillet of fish (elephant fish - their local fish) sandwich for a whooping 2 pounds 50p.
We had a real school-boy that evening when we decided to buy a pizza for dinner to cook in the hostel, only to find there was no oven. So it was BBQ’d pizza for us - as you can imagine it did not work too well with the bottom being particularly burnt! Other than that it was a very uneventful evening as we were both so tired.

Day 30 - Kaikoura - Blenheim

We got up for our 9am bus to Blenheim and the weather was still looking good. It took about 2 hours to get up there and we were the only people to get off the bus in this gem of a town ;-)! We found our hostel, dumped our bags and headed to the bike hire shop. We picked up a couple of mountain bikes for $20 (£8) for the rest of the day (i.e 12-6). We got some lunch (to line our stomachs) from the NZ equivalent of the Bakers Oven then set off on our bikes.
We had our map in the lonely planet and planned a route to some of the different wineries. We started off at Cloudy Bay which has quite a strong presence in the UK and tried 6 of their tipples. At the time we liked them but at the end of the day it was only the Te Koko which still stood out. We stopped at a few more; Huia (a very small winery with a great Pinot Noir), Nautilus (another great Pinot Noir and very drinkable Sauvignon Blancs), Forrest (didn't like this one as we could only try 2 for free(!) no-where else charges), Mahi (brilliant across the board - apart from the Chardonnay) and Villa Maria (Sarah's favorite winery - they do a really good Sauvignon Reserve). On the way out west we were battling with the wind and it actually felt like you were going uphill at times - even though it was completely flat. Luckily after we were a little tipsy we had the wind behind us so it was ok. Our route was 20 miles in the end and I've even put a map of it at the top. By the end of the day due to a mix of alcohol, sun and exhaustion we were really tired. We went to the supermarket and had the rather odd dinner of fish and spaghetti hoops! I think this was my favourite day of our travels so far; the views of the vineyards with the mountains in the distance were so picturesque and we had a lot of fun both tasting wine and riding our bikes. We are still a little "saddle-sore" though!

Day 31 - Blenheim - Wellington

We had a relaxing start to the morning as we had to wait for the Kiwi coach to come through from Kaikoura to take us through to Picton, which is where you catch the ferry to the north island. Most of the day was taken up by this InterIslander ferry crossing, which took 3.5 hours. The first half of the crossing was really calm and pleasant, with fabulous views of the Marlborough Sounds as we weaved our way through them. However, the second half was not so calm and all I can say is that I am very pleased that I made Rob go to the pharmacist to get some more sea-sickness tablets before the trip (he had used them up as we seemed to spend half of Thailand on the sea!).
We only arrived in Wellington at 5.00pm so dropped out bags and went straight out. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to visit the Te Papa museum (The best museum in NZ) but hopefully we will have a chance on our second visit of the city in a few weeks time, before traveling back over to the south island. Instead we walked the length of the City to The Beehive and Government Buildings, stopping for a drink at Macs Brewery and a Gourmet burger which was so cheap and so nice. A third of the price of those in London and twice as nice!
This is the first place that has felt fairly busy. It is all relative though and although it is a city it still feels more like a medium sized town. The harbor area is not particularly pretty but the centre of the city is really nice and the business buildings are all shiny and new compared those in London.
We will shortly be heading out for a another drink before bed and an early awakening for our coach trip to Taupo tomorrow.

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Photos

Christchurch - Pure Joy
"Fush and Chups" infront of the Cathedral.

Christchurch
Grabbing a beer at a working man's club - think "Phoenix Nights" but in NZ.

Crusaders
The Canterbury Crusaders coming out of the tunnel.

Christchurch
These adverts are everywhere - very funny. Not sure they would get away with it in old blighty though!

Christchurch (Banks Peninsula)
Walking on the Crater Rim Walkway.

Kaikoura
A view of this nice little seaside town.

Kaikoura
Seafood BBQ - very tasty.

Kaikoura
A view of the Pacific Ocean from the hills of the peninsula.

Marlborough Wine Trail
Me and my bike next to a vineyard somewhere near Renwick.

Wellington
The beehive - one of the NZ parliament buildings.

Comments

[Rachel]

I'm NZ sick!
I wanna go back to the Arts Centre and go to Dux de Lux! I'm so jealous. I'm glad I'm not the only person that brings bad luck to the Crusaders! I have only ever seen them lose when I watch them live! I saw the only 2 matches they lost last season which I was gutted about! Did Steve Brett play no. 10? If so he is HOT! My have got my friend to attack him in a bar in Hamilton so I could get a pic of him! You def have to go to Te Papa on your way back. Did you see the weird fountain in Wellington? Make sure you do a skydive in Taupo. I want the next blog to say you have both jumped out of a plane! Miss ya xxxxx

[Ann Obee]

Sheer joy!
Geoff keeps looking at the pic of Rob with fush and chups and laughing at the sheer joy it portrays!We remember NZ fush and chups well, nothing better than sitting on a windswept beach with the best value meal in the world.Glad Vic has passed the link on to us as we are enjoying your travels.Enjoy everything.Ann