Athena Motel & Apartments Christchurch

... really nice place and it had lots of little gizits to look at. We dropped our bags in the room and went for a wander into the city to see whats about. We had a walk around the city and it has a similar look to a mini Cambridge and you can even go punting. It was a nice sunny day so just kept wandering around for a few hours before heading back to Jail to serve out our sentence. We were really impressed by it and decided to play free pool to work up an appetite for tea.

Gaz & LJ

... central NZ and saw the Lakes and Mount Cook(see photos). We then went to the West Coast and to the Milford sound. desscribed as the eighth wonder of the worls!. the scenary is continually changing with one special view after another (or photo!!!0. We took the boat out to the tasman Seas and have now travelled back to Queenstown probably ...

... and hope that our muscles wouldn't seize up.

We stopped at a couple other places on the west coast before we headed inland to a place called Wanaka. It is such a great little town, we spent 4 days here in the end, we didn't want to leave at the end. Andy and I had decided that we were going to do a skydive when we got to Wanaka. When we checked into the hostel, we asked them to book it for the following day. We were then told that the ...

... we took a Green cab to Wilderness motor homes depot. This was going to be our first ever campervan holiday and we were pretty excited as well as apprehensive. We had picked out wilderness at the internet after checking out lot of other big names. Not because they were the lowest priced. I am sure we could have got a lower priced deal with the others. But what wilderness seemed to offer was honest transparent rates for vehicle which seemed to be outfitted with all ...

... centre. Sean went to the hairdresser!! Was time for the wild hair to go but now he needs to wear his hat because he is freezing cold!


In the evening, we went to a Maori show. We learned about the culture and traditions. To say hello, they press their nose and forehead (forehead for knowledge and nose for friendship as it means that you both breeze the same air). The tattoos on the faces have different meanings according to who your ...

We didn't spend too much time in Wanaka as the weather was a little ****. Wanaka was beautiful though and we thought the camp site was the best we stayed in for the whole trip. Pretty awesome facilities - including spa pools that overlooked the lake! We also went to the movies - Wanaka's theatre is a classic... if you're in the area definitely take some time out to see for yourself. We decided to head to Queenstown and ended up just chilling for a few days waiting for the rain to go ...

... as a Haka, a traditional Maori dance, so that we can welcome one of our future speakers the traditional Maori way. Also, the Lord gave him a song in the Maori language that he wrote this week on guitar based on Psalm 121:1-2 - "I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." He didn't know this at the time, but that was the ...

... There is nothing other-worldly about Christchurch for many obvious reasons, but still I had my little reservations inside. Thankfully my wanderlust was the more powerful of the two. As Cathedral Square came into view, so did a salesperson. Now, what is the first thing you want to do when you first get out to explore somewhere you have never been before? It's not this. They were trying to sign me up to a cause as I tried to explain to them that I had only ...

... in no rush to do much. We are awoken by bagpipes once again as this town seems to have a largely Scottish contingent that are somewhat patriotic to the home country, either that or there is some kind of bagpipe competition coming up. We chat with dorm mates and i sort out the photos on the laptop from our whole journey, something i have been meaning to do for ages as there are now over 3000 of them. Our dorm mates are well up for going out in the evening so, as we haven't been out ...

... in the North Island are beautiful. The South Island also has some wonderful aspects including the glaciers and lots of activities (not just extreme ones). Really need a bigger budget and a lot more time to see and do everything New Zealand has to offer. We would just like to say a huge thank you to New Zealand for having an abundance of public toilets (all with toilet roll) where we have brushed our teeth and washed our sweaty armpits and dirty feet on many occasions. x x x