Paua Bay Farmstay Christchurch-Canterbury

... farewell to UK Sue and Ray, and then the long flight home began. The plane was on time until Bangkok, where we sat on the runway for about half an hour while they checked something out. What it was I don't know. The plane was okay up until Dubai, I had a spare seat next to me, but then from Dubai until Sydney there were no spare seats. The big haul from Bangkok to Sydney seemed to go on forever, especially with that extra time sitting on the runway at Bangkok. In ...

Okay, so first amazing thing is that I found out Louise and Quenton (Louise runs dogs in agility) are flying out on the same plane as me. Weird thing was they are going to Dubai like me but changing planes at Sydney, so sadly we will only be on the same flight until Sydney, but that's better than nothing. So we have ...

... trip to the Gondola that overlooks the city. The ride up the side of the mountain was fantastic, but the top was the truly spectacular part. Turns out the mountainside that we had glided up was actually part of a volcano! On one side of the lookout center you could see the city of Christchurch, and on the other you could see Lyttelton Harbour, which is basically the flooded basin of an inactive volcano. It was stunning, and of course, my ...

... that would freak them out). We had three swims in total, all were totally AMAZING. You really can make eye contact and they do respond to you and they loved the singing too. Our guide estimated that there were about 300 dolphins in this particular pod, although it is quite hard to judge as they are ducking and diving in the water all the time (apparently the general rule is to multiply the number you can actually see by 5). After this we had a chance to dry off and ...

WELL! It is March 5 today, which means it is the 4th in Canada (Brrrrrr), which means!!!!!.......I have been away from home for exactly eleven months. I thought it'd be pretty cool to remind the fam about it, so I woke up at 9:45(ouch), and phoned mom at work. "HELLO!!!!", "Hi.....OH BABY GIRL!" hahaha. So she thought it was pretty cool that I've been stickin it out for this long and requested yet again that I come home. She also told me that dad was in Las Vegas with ...

... taxi this morning to collect our camper van. It's quite cosy but very well equipped. Been driving through flat countryside from Christchurch then up in to the Mackenzie Countryto Lake Tekapo, very blue.Will post some pics in due course. Love to all back home

... freue ich mich schon so sehr! Jetzt muss ich nur noch ein gescheites Auto finden, dass billig und v**laesslich ist und dann steht dem Reisen nichts mehr im Wege. ...und jetzt w**de ich mich aufmachen in den Hagley Park. Dort ist heute abend ein klassisches Konz**t mit dem Symphonieorchest** aus Christchurch for free und danach gibt es noch ein Feu**w**k! In diesem Sinne wuensche ich euch viele glitz**nde Momente in d** naechsten Zeit und gruesse euch alle ganz lieb! Eure EVA

... a village, but it was a very nice place to stop. The next stop on the bus was the highly geologically active (+ eggy smelling) town of Rotorua. The weather, which had been very nice, had unfortunately taken a turn for the worse, though it was still great to see bubbling pools of mud, geysers and the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal wonderland. We stayed in Rotorua for 2 nights, though kind of wish it was just the one... Next stop - Lake Taupo. More on this soon.....(I promise!!!)

... ausgenutzt und auch dort viel Glueck mit dem Wett** gehabt. ...strahlend** Sonnenschein und optimalen Blick auf den Mount Cook, den hoechsten B**g Neuseelands mit 3755 m. In Neuseeland gibt es sage und schreibe 27 3000**. Im Mount Cook National Park sind wir zum Hook** Glaci** und zum Tasman Glaci** gewand**t...od** genau** gesagt bis zu den vorgelag**ten Gletsch**seen. ...das ho**t sich jetzt hart an, ab** die Wand**ungen waren so gut wie in d ...

... Stunden... wir wollten aber die scenic route nehmen und etwas abseits der Hauptstrassen reisen... irgendwann endeten wir auf einer ungeteerten (unsealed) allrad-Strasse (4-wheel-drive road) mit unseren alten, klapprigen Autos und die Bremsen fingen schon zu rauchen an (ja wirklich!). Und als wir dann auf dieser schmalen Strasse auch noch Gegenverkehr ausweichen mussten und der Abhang an der Seite drohte, ...da ...