Not that much to update really as we're still working at the hostel in Greymouth and have been working everyday so not that much time for going out and doing exciting things (which is probably a good thing given my now severe lack of money!!) Really enjoyed the Passover celebrations but didn't enjoy clearing up after them very much! We got to jo...

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!!!!! LIKE OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!!!! As you can see my usual eloquence has failed me and I have been reduced to using God's name in vain in capital letters as I am censoring all the swear words!!! I can't believe we got more than one third majority!! Yeah I am in support of the opposition, of COURSE! In your ...

I caught the Tranzalpine Train from Christchurch at 8.15am. It is a four hour journey, a long winding railway through and over the Southern Alps. It offers incredible views of snowy mountain tops, steep green hillsides, and winding greeny blue rivers. The scenery is, needless to say, spectacular. It's a good experience, as the driver points out ...

SB: As we've found with all the coastal routes in NZ (as with anywhere on the Islands to be fair), the West coast road was absolutely amazing - just such a shame it was raining so hard, our first bit of rain since we flew in so can't complain too much. Again, so much of the coastline was as good if not better than the GOR - amazing cliff-lined c...

Next day we went to see the Franz Joseph Glacier. Really impressive, but not a patch on Perito Moreno in Patagonia. Then we drove to the town of Fox Glacier, and set up our camp. After dinner we went into town to a saloon bar (these places were gold prospecting towns in the 19th century and so are a lot like the wild west in the USA. There wasn'...

Hello all! After a day of shopping and not much else in Christchurch, we decided to leave on the Transalpine train to the west coast of the South Island. The transalpine basically cuts right through the centre of NZ from Christchurch to Greymouth. The train was so cool and is apparently one of the best in the world! It goes right through loads o...

29-Mar-07 Today we headed further north with a planned overnight stop in Greymouth. We drove through Greymouth to get to the pancake rocks. These are a unique attraction which are layers of sculpted limestone which resemble stacks of pancakes. Whilst here we also managed to see some Hectors Dolphins, these are a threatened species and only found...

Hey again Last night, we went out for supper (which was stupid because of the holiday, there was hardly anything open). And what was open was mainly bars and weird shady places, or expensive places. We went into one restaurant that TJ insisted on, but Jess didn't want to go to since it looked a little shady. But we went anyway, sat down once we ...

Still raining as you can see from the pics! We visit the pancake rocks and then arrive in Greymouth for a brewery tour, bbq and pub crawl where we make friends with a dwarf who likes to dance with fully grown men on his shoulders... and a maori woman who likes to dance with her own shadow... don't ask! Great time all round though and we meet fab...

Y nos vino a recoger el pequeno bus que nos dejaria en la estacion de tren, donde tomaria el Tranzalpine, supuestamente uno de los mejores trayectos de tren y mas bonitos del mundo, atravesando el pais de este a oeste... y bueno, empezo bien, nos anunciaron la apertura del servicio de desayuno en el tren, que si cafe, que si bocadillos, que si h...