The Chester Bed and Breakfast Apartment Christchurch

What a delight to have a few days of staying in a house! Christine is a lovely woman I met while we were both on a slow boat going down the Mekong in Laos in 2006. ("I like telling people how we met," she says, "It makes me sound like such a world traveller"). She had a baby in June. His name is Hari and he is a delightful wee thing, full of smiles and happy babiness. She is thrilled with him. She said she would look at my photos of Ethiopia only if I agreed ...

... are some final statistics of our trip:



Number of kilometers travelled: 2071

Number of towns stayed in: 6

Number of accommodations: 8

Number of towns visited: 11

Number of sandlfy bites between me ...

Today we rent some bikes and ride then 25km along the old train lines. Then we drove so quickly that we can up to Christchurch. We arrived at 6 there, so I booked my shuttle bus for 3:45, printed off my financial situation and my eVisa for Australia. So I should no problems to visit Fiji.

... the actor) at the bar. the only celeb spot of the trip so far. We proceeded to get a little drunk. Got hungry, went for a nice thai meal, then carried on drinking. We rolled in at about 2am, and i had to be up at 10am to catch my bus to the airport. Andy was staying on for another day before heading back to Melbourne. It was so sad to leave Andy and all the stray bus buddies behind. It was truly the best 3 weeks of my trip and i made some of ...

... admiration. I suppose I should have objected but the guy's skill and calm ability to multitask so effectively just had me grinning (not entirely with relief either). Ferrari eat your heart out. I'm writing this now en route to Singapore from Milan The plane's half empty so there's tons of room.. My theory about jet lag this time is that I will put off some of the jet lag if I sleep now, spend most of the day awake in Singapore (there's ...

... stopped at the Moeraki Boulders. Māori tradition tells of the ancient people Kahui Tipua building a canoe, Arai Te Uru, which sailed from southern New Zealand to the ancestral Polynesian homeland, Hawaiki to obtain kumara. On its return it became waterlogged off the Waitaki River mouth, lost food baskets at Moeraki beach and ended up wrecked at Matakaea (Shag Point) where it turned into Danger Reef. After the wreck a crew member, Pahihiwitahi, seeking water, discovered the ...

... during a lot of my days of fruitless job hunting. Then I thought I had struck gold! I got a job in a factory where I could work 50hours a week, and was told I would probably be able to have it until the end of July (I landed this at the end of April). The work was boring, but it gave me some cash and something to do whilst Bex was plodding along swimmingly at school! However I was a victim of random selection 3 weeks in and got laid off, so I went back to being miserable again ...

... topped with cheese and garlic bread on the side - well it was very successful and rather scrummy. The boys washed up whilst the girls booked a tour for tomorrow, and then joined them in the pub before returning to the room whilst the boys watched the football. Whilst the boys went to meet up with Daniels friends from OZ for a drink the girls just chilled out for the evening before bed. 17th March 2009 We were being picked up at 8.20am for our trip Hanmer Springs ...

... are now dutifully stuffed and keep thinking how we still have two weeks of eating before coming home. I hope the walking counteracts the added food. We find New Zealand less expensive than Australia by about 20%. It is also weird about tipping. When you get your bill, you are supposed to add the amount for a tip if you are using Visa. Twice now, we have received the bill without a place for a tip. The one guy said it didn't matter that we didn't need to ...

... directly below, watching the abundance of seals with our flask of soup, it's an easy life here! Generally our drives were a few hours a day to get to our next destination , taking in a walk along the way to a nice viewpoint or waterfall. The roads were strangely quiet, I had to keep reminding myself that NZ only have 4.4 million people and its not that much smaller, if at all, than the UK. Kaikoura is popular for its whale watching, as you don't need to travel far off land ...