Eliza's Manor on Bealey Christchurch

On arrival in Christchurch we picked up our Van. Really great vehicle, very new and easy to drive. After working out all the controls we headed off to find a supermarket to stock up. After getting all our uk favourite (ketchup etc) we started our journey to Ashburton which is small town to settle in a ...

... I am now waiting to find out about a job and then i will be fully back into my old routine. Soph and I are going to start up a tea shop in the v near future so that is a little project for us to work on!! <br><br>Sorry that it has been such a long entry, but as you can see i was a little busy with travelling to get round to writing up my travels. I hope you have enjoyed the blog over the past 5 months. <br><br>Take care and hope to see you all soon<br><br>Sarah xxx

... after doing some 10-20 kms I realise the road has become narrower, highway to back country winding, and then all of a sudden a mud track! I do see that some of the ranchers around rear deer and have choppers in their garage. However neither am I piloting a helicopter nor am I driving a 4 WD SUV. So what am I doing with a low clerance campervan on a mudtrack and No insurance coverage on such roads! I naturally turn around drive back to Wanaka. Considering it is a back ...

... chuckled about the bikie. Day 6 - Up early and off to the Shotover Jetboats. We had a thrilling and wet ride, but so much for the theory of sitting at the back to avoid the wash. "Just put this long waterproof coat under your lifejacket to keep you dry". The other big one is "the cheque's in the mail". Ha Ha. It'd be long enough if I was only as tall as the busload of asians sitting in front of me! I felt very second-hand after the ride (motion sick - thanks mom for your stomach) and ...

... to Drunken Adam. "Adam! Stop looking at your cards!" "But... I want to look at my cards" "Yes, I'm aware that there are naked women on them, but you just have to wait until you flip one over.... " *flip* "It's not your turn!".. *slap* *score!* "Wait..why did you slap that?" "Because its a pair, see, king and king" "Ah... just for kings?" "No a pair can be any number." *flip* "It's still not your turn!" (utter ...

... impressive by the quality of the house, and our room was all made up (its sort of an annex-cum-garage) for us...with a big and very comfy bed which was just what we needed! Instead of going straight to bed at 2 in the afternoon, we thought that after 3days of travelling we deserved some PINTS of beer and a very long awaited scolding hot (for me) CURRY! Two of the things we both missed greatly from Central America.<br><br>We spent the weekend exploring the beautiful city (and it ...

... as my view. Thankfully the rain cleared up in this time and I was ready to hit the town. I had to first check in with the hot air ballooning company I'd be flying with the next morning to reconfirm my booking and check that it would be going ahead re weather. I was told to ring a number after 4am the next day to get a recorded message from the pilot as to whether or not the flight was a goer. Venturing out into this new place on my own was admittedly a bit ...

... of course I'll take the freebie! So I saw the penguins, leant about Antarctic life and took a Hagglund Snow mobile ride. When I got to the backpackers in town there were loads of girls coming off buses into the hostel. Normally a dream right! But tonight I took an early night to get up at 5am for my bus to the airport and flight to Melbourne. After all, my last trip to Christchurch 11 days ago gave me everything I could ask for, and more.......

... convinced and started to support them. The couple does night tours at dusk when the penguins come in from fishing in the water for the night. It is amazing how far these birds scramble up the cliffs and hillsides to their nests. Natural nests are under rocks, but the farms built wooden hideyholes for them that dot their sheep farm. We were lucky that it was the end of the chick season.. Shireen took us to some of the hideyholes with chicks in order to check up on them ...

... book so many times. At one of the stops along the way, I found an issue of Time to tide me over. Where is The Economist when you need it? I could read that for two days straight an not get through an entire issue. Again, the trip was pretty uneventful, although we did get a look at Mt. Cook along the way, the tallest peak in New Zealand (which is a good trivia question found in the new Trivial Pursuit game that my brother Brady gave me for Christmas ...