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Published: December 2nd 2008
We are now in Queenstown, which is nearly at the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand. We really enjoyed Christchurch - it was a really laid back city and everyone was so friendly.
We did a trip away from Christchurch to a place called Hanmer Springs - there are about 10 different Thermal hot pools there which we chilled out in for a couple of hours. Once we got back to Christchurch we went on a punt down the Avon river - which was relaxing as well!
On the Saturday we left Christchurch for a trip Kaikoura - this is about 2 hours north of Christchurch. Kaikoura is an amazing place - it is on the coast and the ocean off the coast is really deep so it attracts and amazing variety of wildlife. On Sunday I went swimming with the Dolphins in the Ocean - this was such an amazing experience. We had an early start at about 8am and when we went got to the centre they were saying the seas were heavy and they were issuing sea sickness warnings! We decided to go ahead (Hayley was watching from the Boat). I got kitted up
in the wet suit and we set off for the boat. As soon as we started off, the boat was bouncing all over the place - I actually fell over on the boat onto my knees it was so rough. Anyway they managed to locate some Dolphins and we prepared to enter the water. There were Dolphins all around us as we quickly got into the water - there were dolphins swmming past us and coming so close to us. Once the Dolphins had past us we got back onto the boat and found another lot of Dolphins. We managed to get back into the water four times - on the third occasion the sea was really rough and I slammed my face in the side of the boat as a massive wave hit me from behind! The fourth time we got into the water was the best as there were hundreds of Dolphins - a group of about 20 went right past my head and took my breath away! They reckoned there was a pod of about 600 Dolphins around us! Even though I smashed my knees and lips it was still an amazing experience that I probably couldn't
do anywhere else in the world!
After this we went to another winery and tasted some more wine - we have done this about 4 times now and it is always good. On the Monday - we left for Queenstown - it was a long drive but you pass lots of varying scenery so it doesn't seem so long.
Today we went up the Gondolas in Queenstown this is similar to the Christchurch ones but they have something called a luge which is like a plastic tray that you sit on a you either lean or pull back on the handle bars to go faster or slower. Somehow I managed to rip my shorts all the way down the back so I had an interesting walk back to the hotel!!
I have just reread what I have wrote and I think I have used amazing a bit too much - but that is the only way to really describe New Zealand - we both loved Australia but we think New Zealand is better and that is saying something!!
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sally
non-member comment
you are giving me goosebumps!
I'm so pleased you are experiencing all of this... you can probably see how I lived there for a bit. I still dream about having dolphins swimming around me. Such a stunning place - i hope you have been to a dairy and had hokey pokey ice cream dipped in chocolate - if not, do it before you leave NZ.