Springbank Vinyard Christchurch

... populates this waters. All around kaikura there
are white mountains that makes this place a very nice picture. Ok, let's
go back to Christhchurch after we drawn for 3700km in New Zealand and
in Christchurch we meet a crying girl. She says that she met the cafetera
and the cafetera has been her love enemy and was the cafetera that has
gone with her boyfriend to the Fiji Islands, that become our next destination.

... but the sun is out and the sky is blue (well on the South Island anyway). My last couple of days I spent in Christchurch walking around the parks and pretty buildings and trying to plan the next leg of my journey. Tomorrow I fly to Bangkok. The plan is to visit Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, in what order I’m not sure yet but I’m armed with my lonely planet book so I’m sure things will sort themselves out, they always seem to.

... sandwiches in the kitchen asked us if we could tone our conversation down a bit. This confused us greatly as we'd not been discussing anything even moderately rude or swearing that much. Ben had dropped what he refers to as the “F Bomb” a couple of times but nothing too harsh. After all this is Backpacker Land. Where men are tough and women are tougher. Food is sparse, goon is plentiful and colourful language par for the course. Or so we thought.

I ...

... way to Christchurch we got stopped by a herd of cows in the road, which was interesting. After I checked in I met up with Peach, Lloyd, Lucy and Chanelle. I was quite pleased to see some familiar faces and we caught up with what everyone had been up to. We went for a chinese, with James and Lloyd being somewhat disappointed with their meals (lol), I enjoyed my gorgeous prawn curry. We took the local bus to Pak 'N' Save and got some cheap booze and ...

... but we were just so tired and there really is nothing to do in this town/city. However we had a stroll about, saw the war memorial etc and did some inevitable shopping! (All Blacks top for me!) and then went back to the hostel. There really is not that much to do! That evening thought we sat in the bar and watched the All Blacks get thrashed by France 27:22 rubbish! Even worse i then discovered that for a very little fee we could have got the bus (inc tickets) to Dunedin ...

... a better position for them to reside. As we approached The South Island, we gasped in amazement at the outstanding landscape unfolding beneath us. We travelled over a vast, snow-capped, mountainous wilderness that kept us captivated by it's visual magic. In a word - WOW! We landed smoothly and customs was fast & friendly to negotiate. We hopped a shuttle wagon and were amazed to find Feralfeet stinking out the back seat. Followed like a bad smell. Made our way to the All ...

Christchurch - spent some time visiting Kate and the surrounds of Christchurch. White water rafted on the Ragitata river, surfed on Dave's 30th at Sumner which was really fun and then explored the Banks peninsula, with Akaroa, the French town, most famous for hector dolphins.

... and stained pool tables. A few games of pool then table football then we decided to call it a night .The next day we drove julie to the airport said our farewells wiped away the tears and waved her off. It was fantastic to see julie and spend so long together the most time we have spent together since we were kids .We were both really sad to see her go. "Hope you enjoyed your time with us Julie"

... New Zealand's 2nd oldest town called Nelson. It was a beautiful town with a river running through the middle sandwiched by mountains and the ocean. However because it was so popular, all the hostels were booked up so Pete and I ended up falling asleep in the back of our rental car. It wasn't all that bad after a great night of partying. The next morning we continued South West over the ...

... because all my other hostels had been YHA i pressumed this one was too, and so got off the bus at the wrong one, luckily the guy from the right hostel came and picked me up and look me to Lake Front Hostel, which was more like a hotel that a hostel - except the 4 to a room of course. We wanted to go to the outdoor spa but due to a child having an 'accident' in the pools it was closed, so we had a few drinks with some of the older people on our tour before we all headed to ...