Glenmore House Christchurch

... army truck with a new custom built back cabin that could seat 20 people. The Vehicle was originally an army field ambulance/medical truck. Terry proceeded to describe the tour and specifically the jet boat ride we were to take. The jet boat has the ability to do 360 degree spins and skim over water that is three inches deep.

When we arrived at the jet boat launch we were provided with rain jackets, Life preservers and sunglasses (for those with contacts ...

... being in the outback in Aus. Turns out we were going to be in NZ at the same time and decided to rent a car to explore the South Island. Our only conversation pertaining to planning this thing was,“try and get a car and meet me at the airport”. Since neither one of us has a phone out here, we were both skeptical that it was would actually work out.Well sure enough, I land…and there is Josh. He rented a Nissan “Sunny”. If you’vie never heard of it ...

... the tickets again – we were in Christchurch and it was Thursday 27th August 2009, what was wrong?! We asked at a few of the other airline desks and they knew less than we did! Anyway, it turns out that Air Pacific is part of Quantas. Quantas couldn’t be bothered doing the internal flights in NZ anymore, so they sold it to someone, and they sold it to someone else and now nobody know who was supposed to be doing what! Eventually we ...

... out. Unfortunately, when I left home I just threw in the first pair of togs I found and didn’t realise that the elastic in them was somewhat stretched. Nothing for it but to pull them on and wrap myself in a towel and quickly slip out of it into the pool. Oh bliss! I sunk into the steaming water and revelled in it, chatting with a lady from Christchurch who runs a B&B and an Indonesian couple from Jakarta with their young daughter,who were as surprised to find someone here ...

... drinking was still excellent. As well as the
quality of the pinot noir, the relative low yields to other major
regions in the world leads to some quite hefty price tags - a very
enjoyable day out, and one which will probably cost me a few quid in
high end wine shops back in the UK as I try in vain to pretend I'm
still on holiday!After a very pleasant night spent in
Wanaka with more home-cooked camper van delights for ...

... but a close second!! Had a wander around Queenstown trying to avoid the various skydive, bungy and canyoning shops! At last it was time for the ride of the rings, we were given our horses I had Murphy who had his own way of doing things and a phobia of getting his feet wet it would seem. Matt had Merlin, who had a flatulence problem and quite liked kicking and biting the others. There was a definite hierarchy going on poor Murphy was at the back and there was ...

... deborder et emporter nos tentes! Nous avons aussi fait la connaissance des Sandflies, charmants petits brulots qui se gilssent partout et vous piquent meme a des endroits ou vous ne penseriez pas pouvoir etre piques. Malgre tout nous avons vecu des moments exceptionels. Nous avons eu la chance de voir des bords de mer a couper le souffle, plages de sable noir, vagues dechainees, observer une colonie de phoques, un banc de dauphins. Vu ...

As part of our trip around the south island it was necessary to pass through Christchurch and Kaikoura again to reach the North island. We had already explored Christchurch so we decided to relax and enjoy just wandering around the city in the sunshine.

... the lashing of the cold wind and sea spray. As we entered the Queen Charlotte Sounds the sea settled, the sun started beating down and we got chatting to a nice guy from Leicester. A hippy family I had chatted to in Wellington were also on the same ferry - they had this old fashioned American truck with a house on the back ... completely off it!!! We arrived in Picton around half 11 ... first stop ... Weetabix!! We gathered some info from ISite and then headed ...

... br>Bex & Hutchy were great, so we tried to cheer Katie up a bit and take her mind somewhere else for a few hours.

Hutchy drove us across town to our lunch venue which was a lovely vineyard on the north side of Christchurch, not far from the airport.

The grounds and the restaurant looked amazing, so we were all very excited to be having a proper roast dinner, even if a) it was lunchtime and b) it was 25 degrees and sunny ...