Maison de la Mer Akaroa

... have a hot shower while I walk the 20minutes back to the motel to pick up the car and collect her.
Then its back to La Rochelle for hot soup to defrost!!

Thursday 19th November

Much to Em's disgust, I'm awake early and try to lay quietly until she wakes up, apparently 8.00am is still too early for her! She's not a morning person!! Sharing a room may be cheaper but boy does it have its drawbacks!! We're both looking forward to ...

... of Christchurch (if there is such a thing)!

Before getting to the Peninsula we called into Christchurch for a quick scoot around. We'd heard people describe it as a very English city which was well worth a visit. Well, the Art Gallery and the Cathedral were pretty cool but apart from that it's just like any other place. We therefore decided to head straight down to the the Peninsula.

The plan had always been to hole up down here for 3 or 4 ...

... seven previous accident reports before me that day and it was only 10.30am. I felt a little better and thanked SquawJenny's sensibility on taking full insurance cover with no excess. Here's the keys and I'm outa here! A fast free shuttle around the corner to the airport and we were the first to check-in for the homeward flight.  We were re-bitten by duty-free walletsnakes again on the way out. This was to restock cabinet supplies at home that our son had announced he'd consumed during ...

... anyway, after taking a few photos of all these tourist escapees, and of their messages on the walls, and after saying thanks to friendly man for his story and surviving barrow creek, we finally head north to what would turn out to be our final destination for the night, wycliffe well, ufo capital of australia! oh yeah, the territories aren't weird at all... ... and my money is about to run out so i'd best disappear for a while and let someone else have a go! more later!

... with one more day in, day out hike of the same old spectacular mountain/waterfall/forest scenery. The tramp even required some class 4 scrambling and rock climbing and some good boot soaking river crossings (we cheated and put on our jandles), but it was a relatively easy tramp to the 50 year old hut. I like the older huts because they're made out of actual cut wood, not plywood. The bunks are shorter though, so either the early trampers of New Zealand were shorter, or they were trying ...

... matt and tommy seeing me back to the hostel at what was probably no later than 9.30 and promptly going to bed ****** thankfully i'd set my allarm for the next day so i could carry on the magic tour and the beauty of steinlager pure is cos its all pure ingredients theres no hangover the next day - i'm living proof of that its official matt teear realyl can organise a **** up in a brewery !!

... is nice.. and went to the pub after... i went with two friends... Richard (from christchurch) and Shannon (visiting as well from Wellington)... and the best thing was the sun finally came out for the last day in NZ .... the next day i left to go to Melbourne, Aussie... k xxx

... an excellent Spanish (tapas), Italian (pizza), French (mains and waiters) restaurant. This place was really buzzing - great food, great ambiance If anyone reading this is contemplating touring NZ then Akaroa should be a 'must do'. Wow, wow and double wow again - if you want to stay in one of the best places in New Zealand - come here to Akaroa - even in foul weather it is such a chill out zone.

... see all this couple is doing for these birds. The next day we were supposed to swim with dolphins, but the weather was not so favorable for it, and we decided to wait and do it in Kaikoura (it ended up being the right decision. We later met those that went on the trip anyway, and they saw dolphins, but did not get to swim with them) After stopping at Barry's Cheese Factory to pick up some delicious cheese, we left Akaroa and traveled to Kaikoura to try and find those dolphins.

After a 6 am wakeup call following New Year's, I made my way to the airport to fly to Christchurch, New Zealand, on the South Island. Since I didn't have to be anywhere until January 9th for orientation, I thought this would be a great chance to visit New Zealand. On the advice of several friends from Kellogg, I decided to do the South Island, which is very sparsely populated but incredibly beautiful. I flew into Christchurch, the largest city on ...