Life in New Zealand....

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Hi everyone, I have been in New Zealand for nearly two weeks now but it feels like I have been here a lot longer. We seem to have done so much and covered so many miles in such a short space of time. It's definetly a lot easier to see things here having our own car. We are cruising around in a Nissan Pulsar, which actually isn't as bad as it sounds.

We arrived in Christchurch on Sunday the 28th of April and spent a few days there. It was definetly a great place to start and is still my favourite city in New Zealand so far. Theres a really nice atmosphere everywhere; people singing and playing instruments in the street, coffee shops dotted around outside, trams, and people playing giant draughts in the centre. Plus everyone is wrapped up in hats and scarfs because it is freezing! Even though it's cold the sun is still shining and the sky is clear so you don't mind spending all day waundering around outdoors. We spent our time walking around the centre, visited an art gallery, and the local park.

After our two days in Christchurch we travelled to a place called Hanmer Springs for the simple reason that we saw a leaflet advertising the hot springs and sulpher pools there:-) Before you can feel the heat of the pools you have to brave the freezing cold changing rooms and get into your bikini in the outdoors. It definetly makes you appreciate the pools, thats for sure! We spent a couple of hours here and then travelled to Kaikora where we attempted to swim with dolphins....

We got up early in the morning to swim with the dolphins and after watching a briefing video and being kitted out with our swimming gear which included a water proof hat, gloves, full wet suit and waist coat, we set off in the boat. We did not have a very successful trip. There were no dolphins around for us to swim with. We did see some baby dolphins but you are not allowed to swim with these. The skipper also took great pleasure in pointing out every albertross that flew by, describing them as 'the most magnificant bird', to me they look like a giant seagul! Although we were disapointed that we didn't get to swim with any dolphins by the time we were heading back we were all quite relieved that we hadn't had to venture into the water because we were sat dithering as it was. We had the majority of our money refunded so all in all it wasn't that bad. I have just come to the conclusion that me and boats just don't make a good combination....

After Kaikora we headed to a very small town called Rakaia. We managed to find ourselves some nice accommodation here but apart from that there really was nothing, apart from a big fish, which did seem to be there sole attraction.

All of the towns here are tiny. They are smaller than what we would describe as a village at home. As soon as you have driven into one you are driving out on the other side.

After our visit to Rakaia we headed for Lake Tekapo. The drive there was beautiful. We had to stop about five times to take photos of different water pools, mountains, and coasts.

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