Blogs from Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 160

Hi all Hope you are enjoying this trip as much as we are. Christchurch is a wonderful place great people and a great community feel to the place. Pace of life just right and very relaxed attitudes - not seen or heard anyone stressed yet! I've put some photos on the earlier entries. Hope they look ok. Took a tram trip around centre of C'church today takes 25 mins right round then you can get on and off as often as you want. Ticket lasts 48hrs. Nice buildings and lovely botanical gardens lots of flowers out right now. Had a meal in local pub last night cooked by stonegrill method. You get a piece of stone at 400 degrees temp and a piece of choice of meat and then you turn it over as often as ... read more

Well what can I say.. a great trip comes to an end... New Zealand's South Island is one of superior beauty. We flew into Christchurch on the 24/7. After a few troubles at airport security (surprise surprise) we went to the car hire section. As it turns out they had stuffed up our booking. They had given us 2 cars that had not been skiierised, even though they knew we were driving to Queenstown to ski. So after reorganising, that took us just as long as it did to fly form Sydney to Christchurch, we were under way with our 6 hour drive at 7pm. We drove in complete darkness the whole way, which we would later find out was a tremendous shame. We arrived at Queenstown and checked into our hotel. Rohan, Az and I ... read more

We awoke this morning to a cold, wintry day. After a breakfast of Mexican Omelette at Sophie’s Restaurant down the street, we caught the local bus into town. We wandered around Cathedral Square, taking photos in the rain, and had a look around the information centre, bumping into Lena and Dominic. A Rogan Josh pie and glass of red wine at the Taj Mahal restaurant, looked like a good idea, and after lunch, with the rain still pouring down, we decided to give it a miss and head back to the hotel for a rest. Six-thirty saw us in the hotel restaurant, sitting with Lena and Dominic, enjoying a Welcome Dinner (in buffet style) with the other members of our Coach Tour. We enjoyed a pleasant evening, with a pianist playing in the background. We met ... read more

After leaving the boat in Napier, I worked on an apple orchard - crappy! Then a road trip with friends from Toronto to see lots of cool Lord of the Rings related stuff including the third movie at the Embassy theatre in Wellington, where the premiere was! Then back on the boat for a lovely Christmas with the Alvei crew. Then another roadtrip this time with Dirk, Fritjof and Jennie. We hiked through glaciers, bathed in a freezing cold lake, saw a colony of seals, and celebrated New Years with a few thousand people in Queenstown! Good fun! Unfortunately, due to my own carelessness, all the photos from this period of my trip have been lost. Then I worked again, this time in a cherry orchard. Also crappy. Then I hitched a ride with a truck ... read more

hello friends, me and lara have arrived in new zealand. As anticipated, the coldness factor is great. We flew into the social hub of auckland in the north island(new zealand is made up of 2 islands) and then flew into the very english city of christchurch. Strangely enough we ran into some people we surfed with a month ago. Small world (after all). Yesterday we converged upon new zealands largest Thermal Reserve. These are a collection of naturally hot springs collected in a friendly resort atmosphere in the snowy mountains. One section of pools was heated from sulpher and was about 110 degrees. Eek. but this was lovely in the chill of the timberland. Last night we stayed in what we thought was a nice quaint hostel. But after ignoring a warning about the loudness of ... read more