Blogs from Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 158

We've just returned the campervan and are looking forward to a warm night in a hostel in Christchurch before we head up north tomorrow. It's going to be a long 10 hour journey on the train to Picton then the ferry to Wellington. Thanks for all your lovely anniversary messages. We spent most of it on the luge in Queenstown (see photo) and in the evening Karl took me to a very fancy, non-backpacker restaurant, where we had our first champagne in 4 months. Couldn't believe they didn't kick us out for wearing trainers and holey clothes. Also spent the past few days at the amazing Milford Sound, Dunedin, Timaru and Wanaka, but haven't managed to find any snow deep enough to ski yet! Maybe up north.... ... read more

Hallöchen, heut waren wir baden! :-) Morgens hatte Gloria, meine Mitbewohnerin, die glorreiche (hehe, Gloria - glorreich, hihi) Idee, mit ihrem niegelnagelneuen (gebrauchten) Auto mal einen Tagesausflug zu machen. Und, wo fährt man natürlich hin wenn die Sonne scheint und es nicht allzu kalt ist?! Natürlich baden! Also haben wir uns Jamie, Edouard und Fabrice geangelt und haben uns mit dem Auto gen Norden begeben. Da gibts einen Ort namens Hamner Springs, wo es natürliche heiße (etwas nach faulen Eiern riechende) Quellen gibt. Das ist auch übrigens das einzige was es da gibt! Da angekommen haben wir uns geschlagene 3 Stunden in irgendwelchen mittelwarmen bis richtig warmen bis geradezu kochenden Pools geaalt (heißt das so?). War eigentlich mehr so wie Aqualand als wie eine natürliche quelle. Die "Felswände" waren aus Pappmache a la Phantasialand und die ... read more

Hi, its me again,with news just in from the south island of NZ. Have covered a lot of ground (surprise surprise) since the last one. A theme has emerged over the last week of 'record breakers' so this log is dedicated to the TV programme of the same name. Its worth mentioning that on my way down to Stewart Island, I went near a place called Geraldine which has the world's biggest jumper. Its BIG. However, I would also like to enter it in another category of world's worst jumper. There lots of embossed sheep emblazend onto a argyle background. Unfortunately I don't have a photo to express the awfulness of this extraordinary item of clothing. Anyway, yeah, I spent a couple of days in Dunedin, climbed the world's steepest street. Its VERY steep and chock ... read more

We had a very long drive to Christchurch, which probably took a lot of the life out of the van's engine, to meet one of Sarah's friends from her old job in London. It was great to stay with Alvin, Jenny and Alistair who were incredibly kind to us and helped us to finally sell the van - for $500 to a dodgy Egyptian bloke - through the fantastic Trademe auction site. We also spent a couple of days hanging around in the Backpackers' Car Market with 40 or so other hopeful sellers. We got a couple of test drives: one nervous German chap, and one slightly strange German chap (most people in New Zealand seemed to be German) but no buyer so we ended up listing the van on Trademe for $1. By the way, ... read more

The end is nigh.......if the dreaded plane doesn't kill me. Can't thank my hosts enough, can't explain just how good an experience it's been but it has. Look forward to seeing UK readers (those who are nice anyway) soon, but it's a real annoyance that we couldn't all just move over here instead!! xxx... read more