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Published: January 26th 2009
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So, after losing about two and a half stone each through stress after thinking we were going to miss our flight, we safely arrived in Christchurch at Base Backpackers. Luckily it was better than the Base at magnetic island and there wasn't a portakabin or Israeli in sight. We didn't arrive until midnight so the following day we explored the city and the hostel was conveniently placed by Cathedral Square in the centre of the city. So, we thought it was only fair to venture into the cathedral itself and absorb some culture! Inside was, according to our guide book, "One of the world's finest pipe organs". Obviously the Kiwis have not been introduced to our very own Linford Christie, whose steroid use didn't have the usual side effect. Anyway, after that exhilarating five minutes, we hit the supermarket to stock up on oven food (you'll be surprised how exciting it is to see an oven in a hostel. The options are endless...Pizza, Chips, Pies). We bought pizzas, oven chips and a huge chicken pie to accompany our Heinz...yep, Heinz baked beans before hitting the rather limited sights of Christchurch.
Like I said, the sights were limited so it was
Check out the arrival time Sam!
Plane from Sydney to Christchurch a wander round the botanical gardens seeing plants like Biggus Oakus-treeus and Thornius Shrubus and other interesting foliage. On our way back we stopped at the Mooseom fo Dyslexia but it was clothesd. After a day too many in Christchurch, we were finally on our way around the South Island on the Magic Bus with self confessed ladies man Karl the driver! He was actually OK and turned out to be one of our better drivers in that he was helpful, relatively funny and honest, even if he did look like a Spitting Image character.
Our first stop was Kaikoura, a seaside town north along the coast, where the main activities where whale watching and swimming with the dolphins. Unfortunately we couldn't get on the dolphin trip as it was fully booked so we booked it for the next time we passed through (as we'd pass through once again on our way to the North Island). We stopped at a place called Albatross Backpackers, which was just like someone’s house and where everyone went to bed about 7pm as they were researching the dolphin behaviour early the next day! We'd arrived about lunchtime and with not much else to
do we took a walk to the seal colony, further south along the peninsula. Kaikoura itself was stunning and we finally felt like we were in New Zealand with the snow capped mountains by the sea and the sheep shearing showground that we passed! Unfortunately we'd missed the show by about half an hour, which was devastating. After watching some Italian guy shouting at the seals and his family from about 4 feet away (was dying for the seal to munch him), we walked what felt the fifteen miles back to the hostel to find all the Germans and the Japanese guy in bed.
Another drive day the following day, this time up to a town called Nelson and Paradiso Backpackers, complete with pool, jacuzzi and the clincher.........FREE SOUP!!! This turned out to be a recurring theme throughout the hostels of New Zealand, obviously competing for custom. There was also a free gift of one packet of super noodles, which we didn't receive but we stole them from the Norwegian girls in our dorm. Paradiso was one of the best so far! We relaxed by the pool soaking up some extreme UV rays (apparently there's no ozone layer over
New Zealand so the Crisp 'n' Dry was shelved in favour of some factor 30) and were off to the Abel Tasman national Park for some walking the next day.
With our stomachs fueled with free soup and home brewed pale ale from the Sprig and Fern down the road, we boarded the bus to Abel Tasman for our eight mile hike. Lizzie didn't indulge in as much free soup as me so she stocked up her energy reserves with the most expensive chocolate brownie on the planet, before we set off! Unfortunately there's really nothing too interesting to say about walking, although it must have been ok as everyone we passed was intent on saying "GOOD MORNING" as cheerfully as possible. It was a decent day and was well worth it but we were pretty knackered. Luckily my glass knee held up and we replenished our weary bodies with fish and chips brought across into the Sprig and Fern by the nice folk at the chip shop! Next stop was Greymouth.
Greymouth was rubbish. Although on the way we stopped at the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki. This was one of the many landmarks and sights that we
stopped off at along the way around the Island in between towns. The most exciting thing we did in Greymouth was walk the owner's puppy, Bez. He was a bigger version of the andrex puppy. Like I said, that's about as exciting as it got, although we did stay in the "Sheep Room" at Noah's Ark Backpackers! The next morning we were off to the Franz Josef Glacier to really get into New Zealand activities!
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