Andaview Bed & Breakfast Christchurch

... used to farm for a few years). 
This was a true imersion in Kiwi life and felt at the time a bit like being home, strangely.Despite some cultural differences, we all share many of the good and bad things experience in life, which makes some very interesting discussions...around some NZ or Aussie wine (good reds in NZ). Richard's dad (a character !), is an aircraft engineer, retired from the air force, still busy...he took me flying for a job ...

... on the lake... unfortunately.

We made our way back to Christchurch that day, coming across an accident along the way not far from Mount Cook. A car had spun out and luckily landed up at the edge of the hill as opposed to the other side which would have been straight off the edge into the water. Everyone was ok.

We stopped again at Lake Tekapo as we forgot to see the "Church of the Good Shepphard". The church is set on the ...

... station for us. Seemed pretty smooth since I booked it all 8 weeks ago and 9000 miles away in the middle of their night.

We then had an hour-long wait for the train. Lots of other people started turning up and checking in, so it didn't seem long before the train arrived and disgorged it's load of passengers from Christchurch into waiting buses and rental cars. They then took the train away briefly to swap the locos round from one end to the other so it could make the journey ...

... eg tilbake til Christchurch og Jailhouse.Herifra reiser jeg videre nordover til(varmere vær, unaturlig nok)Wellington, landets hovedstad. Så langt kan jeg faktisk si at NZvirkelig ER så vakkert som du har hørt, det er veldig likt påNorge og snart finner jeg ut hvordan nordøyen er!
 
Jeg har også fullført minereiseplaner for Amerika som ser litt annerledes ut en hva de gjorde iutgangspunktet. Inkluderer bl.a et lite besøk til Kanada.

... of comfortable beds and modern conveniences that I didn't have to empty with a gas mask on... Day 10 - Our last day in UnZud. We transferred all remaining supplies to CalamityBarb & Ol' Dolly's wagon, because they were staying on for another 3 days. They were going to make their way up to Nelson & Hanmer Springs. Pity we couldn't do it with them, but the salt mine requested me home. Herr Laurie and I did the "Dump Station" exercise and filled the wagons with go-juice. Hugs ...

... we can just see the faint blue outline of the Southern Alps. We rest up at the monument to the pioneer women who landed at Lyttlreton then had to climb in their long dresses and bonnets over these hills with children and all their goods and shattles to the flat arable land whch today is Chch. A remarkable feat of endurance. While we plan our next trek - the Kepler Track in Fiordland down in SW of south ...

... left for Christchurch a little after 8:00 pm. It was a short flight and we arrived in Christchurch a little after 9:00 pm. I claimed my bags and took a cab to the Heritage hotel. They were expecting me and while I was checking in, the bellhop took my bags to my room for me. They are quite efficient at this hotel. The room seemed nice, but I was so tired, that I hardley noticed. I climbed into bed and was asleep in a matter of seconds.

Months ago, Jackie met Silke in Laos, and they traveled around together for a bit and kept in touch. Silke also planned to travel to NZ and bought a camper van for her 6 month journey and invited Jackie to travel with her. Jackie told Silke about me, and asked if I could tag along. Silke said sure. It sounded perfect, and for the last month, that was our very undefined plan. But the last few days before Silke arrived in NZ, I started to worry that we would not get along ...