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Published: July 15th 2007
The time came for us to leave Australia. We really had settled in well and were sad to be going. Even the weather tried it's best to stop us going, heavy rain and thunderstorms made for a slight delay on the flight to Christchurch. But without to much delay we were off and looking down on a miserable looking Sydney as we took off into the skies.
Things quickly improved luckily and we were soon in perfectly clear weather as we headed over to New Zealand. For the first time since home we left we were lucky enough to find ourselves on a flight that didn't go at some ridiculous hour. Flying in daylight meant that we had the most amazing views coming into New Zealand as we flew over the snow covered Southern Alps - the best view we've ever seen from a plane!
Touch down in Christchurch and as soon we left the airport building the weather hit us. All these past months we've been lucky enough to enjoy plenty of sun (even the Australian winter wasn't that cold). So we were stupidly unprepared (me more than Caroline) when we were greeted with the weather over
here. Shivering our way to the hostel we luckily got ourselves a room with heating and electric blankets. Next stop the shops to stock up on some thermals!
For the first couple of days we adjusted to the climate change, checked out the sights around the city and found ourselves sat by the fires in numerous coffee shops. Day 3 we decided to get ourselves a car having decided the campervan idea was completely stupid in these temperatures (the first night in Christchurch is got down to -8!). As soon as that was sorted we hit the road for our first adventure.
Akaroa, an hour and a half drive south east of Christchurch. We figured it would be a nice easy for trip to take. A small French influenced coast town with some supposedly good views along the way. Only trouble was, it was raining and the views we had were mainly of cloud and mist. We got there and had a walk around. It was cold. We ran into a cafe and had lunch. Walked around a bit more and then gave up went back to car and back to Christchurch. We'll get used to this weather
eventually.
The following day we explored to the North - Hanmer Springs. A small alpine town with hot thermal springs - sounded good to us. The drive up was good. We had clear skies at last and and the views all around us were great. We arrived and headed straight for the springs. They weren't quite what we expected. We had seen a picture of a hot, steaming, natural lookng pool surrounded by snow covered trees. It was actually a series of outdoor, man made pools and we had to make our way to each across ice cold concrete paths. We were slightly disappointed. However, if we ignored the hoards of kids (school holidays week), it was actually pretty cool. It's not every day you get to sit in a 40 degree hot pool and look over to the snow covered mountains.
After we dragged ourselves away from the warmth we took a short walk up to the hills overlooking the village. We quickly found ourselves amongst the snow (snow ball fight!) and when we got to the top the view was fantastic.
Two more days in Christchurch followed. Not much more we wanted to see, but we
managed to get tickets to the ALL BLACKS v SOUTH AFRICA! We couldn't pass up the opportunity and when the day arrived the whole city was caught up in the excitement as all the shops, cars, trams became covered with posters, sticks, flags and balloons. They are absolutely mad for their rugby! We even got ourselves a couple of All Blacks scarves to show a bit of support. Plus the game was at night and it was forecast to be bloody freezing again. The game was pretty much a sell out. The atmosphere was awesome! Caroline was especially excited about seeing the big rugby men doing the HAKA! The game itself was a little slow to get going, but NZ won and everyone went away happy!
Tomorrow we start a 3 weeks of touring the South Island. Colder weather to come!
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Tricia
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Photos
What lovely scenery there. You are very lucky to be discovering New Zealand - Caroline my Mum and Dad went to visit some of their friends over there when they came to see me in Oz. They loved it. They were staying with a farmer friend - not sure where. Love the hats - tons of love - Mum