Cotswold Hotel Christchurch

<br> The ferry crossing between the north and south island of New Zealand is beautiful. There were rumours of dolphins following the ferry but we didn&#8217;t manage to see any. Out first stop was the muscle (from the sea, not humans) town of New Zealand for some huge green lipped muscles. They were yummy if not a little too big for my mouth (I know hard to believe). <br ...

... While I did leave as soon as I ran out of money, keeping my word to myself, I could see how people could develop gambling problems: even while losing, it was fun, and there was always the promise of that next hand. Regardless of the lost money, I enjoyed the experience.<br><br>We stayed in Christchurch three nights then headed further south on our adventure around the coast. Christchurch had been my favorite place so far, and I may end up going back for a couple of days.<br>

... deck which allows you to take photos outside but boy is it cold, windy and bumpy.<br>The photos don't even do it justice.<br><br>We arrived in Greymouth and switched to a shuttle bus to take us to Franz Josef four hours south. Checking into our hostel that provided free soup and a free hot tub we felt pretty content.<br><br>In our 5 bed dorm arrived two lads from Manchester, Dean and Nick, who were over on a 2 year working holiday and had a job interview to be glacier ...

... riding off into the sunset (really a huge &amp; violent electrical storm). In summary: We loved our time New Zealand. We did find the farmland areas a bit boring, as we come from a similar area. Beaches? We've got bucketloads of great beaches around us. The more mountainous regions were our love. They were so VERTICAL. Mountains in Oz rise gradually, but in NZ. It's SMACK! - there's the mountain. They make your very soul tingle with their magnificence. I must say that it's one of the ...

... we enjoyed a short scenic flight first. The scariest bit is when the plane doors open and you have to shuffle over to the door and sit on the edge ready to jump and then off you go with a free-fall of 45 seconds - it is mad. The parachute opens at about 5,000 feet and then you have a few minutes to recover yourself and enjoy the view. We both had a perfect text book landing which was a relief. We were very lucky we got to do our jump at all as the wind was blowing ...

... Tracy Tuschling and her family in Tuesday night. They've settled in really well and love Christchurch. Unfortunately with the recession Percy hasn't found a job but Tracy is doing a course at Uni and is going to be working part-time for Women's Aid. Both girls have settled in really well and both love their new schools. Tara (the eldest) has lots of new friends and has a part time job but she misses the Scottish accent! It was really nice to see them all so happy! (for ...

... forest to Porters Beach. There was a lot more to see in the park but as we only have a short amount of time in New Zealand we headed to Takaka in the Golden Bay. Takaka is a nice little town (well more of a village by British standards) with lots of boutiques and galleries; there is a hippy feel to the place which makes it pretty quirky. We wanted to investigate the coastline so hopped back in our spaceship to Pohara, Tata Beach and Wainui Bay which were all very ...

... day distractions of the real world.<br><br>We took a gondola up to Mt Cavendish which had magnificent views of the city and surrounding areas. I phoned my kids and it was really hard not to tell them the news but I wanted to do it in person.<br><br>Later we used the trams to explore the city and visited the botanical gardens which were in full bloom. It was a bright sunny day and we took full advantage exploring the city.<br><br>Later back on board ship ...

... um vor Sonnenaufgang wieder zu verschwinden. Ein paar bleiben aber auch in ihren Hoehlen ueber den Tag, rumlaufen tun aber keine. Auf der zweiten Tagesetappe habe ich dann einige vier Tages Wanderer eingeholt... Nun, der Track ist so einfach (in 4 Tagen) und bequem (die beiden Bergtage kann man ohne Gepaeck laufen wenn man zahlt wird das Gepaeck gefahren), dass den Trek auch Familien machen. Hier laeuft ...