Christchurch, NZ

---

The flight from Santiago to Aukland was our longest flight so we were both dreading it! I'd got everything out of my hand luggage that I thought I might want, journal, ipod, DS, book, and I ended up sleeping for most of the flight and din't actually use any of it! It wasn't even that comfortable on the plane so I must have been shattered!

We arrived in Aukland about 4am and had booked a hotel nearby for a few hours kip before our flight to Christchurch later in the afternoon. It was all very confusing as we had lost the 26th Jul somewhee way up high in the clouds and had landed on 27th. We had booked the hotel for the 26th as we'd need to check out on 27th and the guy had put us down as a no show. I got a little bit angry with him (nothing too bad!) but I was so tired and just wanted to lay down on nice comfy bed! I felt bad afterwards! We got it sorted and had a few hours sleep before heading back to the airport to fly to Chrischurch.

It was so nice being somewhere where people speak English, we had no problems getting our flight or food...heaven! The only downside was the weather, it was freezing! We arrived in Chrischurch late afternoon and had booked into Basebackpackers right in the centre. We met a couple of Irish lads in our hostel room so we went for a wander round the botanical gardens and the shops with them. In the evening we went out for dinner and spent ages finding somewhere that was cheap, we were so used to south American prices that everything seemed so expensive here! We eventually ate cheaply and headed back to the hostel bar for a few drinks and then went to bed...No matter what you say Lisa, sometimes Jet lag just isn't in your head!!! It was nice being at Base in Christchurch as it bought back loads of memories fom last year when I was here with Lisa!

We spent the next day shopping (well, window shopping!) and stocked up on some food from the supermarket to make things cheaper for us. We managed to sort our hiring a car for the whole time we're in NZ so we pick that up tomorrow and head to Mt cook. I'm looking forward to cruising around in our own wheels, we can go where we want, when we want...lovely!

---