Holiday Inn On Avon Christchurch

... my plane to wellington, and then 8 hour bus to taranaki. Very tired now. But no time to rest...got to start thinking of my job application mtas form answers....its not a nice form, and still dont know where to apply! hmmm 2 weeks left to decide.

Also saw the news earlier that there was a small tsunami here this morning at around 5am of 40cm, but it came to no more. But there was a big one in samoa, where i know a few people from uni are, so i hope they are all ok! 60 ...

... in New Zealand, Bay of Pigs for the US to name just a few. Apologies for the late posting of this last blog. I got home jetlagged all over the place, worked the next day and spent a couple of days getting to know my family, pets and generally getting my feet back on the ground. It's a truism but it was good to travel and it's also good to be back - not the weather though as winter nears. It's cold. Goodbye Au Revoir Adios Arrivederci

... traffic to find a campsite.  We soon came across a couple of possibilities near the beach, but they weren't so inviting with the cool wind & overcast skies. They offered little protection from the elements, so we consulted the DOC bible and decided to check out Trotters Gorge. It was about 4.5km off the beach road. We noticed a sign hanging on a fence adjacent to the final entrance road to the gorge proclaiming "Please Don't Shoot our Pet Pig". Hmm. Oh well, what's to lose? My ...

... was piled on top of the cases and on the walls, the people working in the shop were old ladies with frilly aprons and they were handing out samples of fudge. It was so fun. The boys had a great time trying different kinds of fudge.  We took the tram to the stop closest to our apartment and walked home. The predicted rain held off all day during our tour until the middle of our tram ride, but I think that we all still had a good day. -Merina

... supposed to but hey ho. Some of the "art" pieces were a bit pants, one of them looked like a large mound of polar bear **** (it was white). I think if you do something really off the wall in the art world, all the pompous people rave about it. After a bit of a look around we called at a liquor store and got some beers and crisp etc then went back to the hotel for a chill out and watched a bit of ...

... reminded us a lot of English cities like Oxford and Canterbury. Walking along the Avon is a lot like Windsor and it was hard to believe we were the other side of the world. Later, the sun came out and we treated ourselves to a drink in the beer garden of Dux de Lux, a really nice microbrewery by the park. In the evening, having tried to find a bar or pub to sit in and realised that they were all empty again, despite it being a Friday night, we watched more ...

... can't quite remember for some reason). At each vineyard we got to taste a whole selection of wines. Sauvignon blanc was indeed brilliant. We headed a couple of hours south to the small seaside town of Kaikoura where the plan was to swim with dolphins. A few km north of the town we spotted a colony of seals basking on the rocks. This looked like a great photo opportunity brought to an abrupt halt when I was barked at for getting too close and beat ...

... Aside from a couple of unexpected moments it went fairly smoothly.
Stu had all of our things outta the house a week or so before change of possession. Robert was out about 3 days before.

In
the end the thought of cleaning the place up just about did me in and
so we hired cleaners, which was the smartest move EVER! Long story
short, house was emptied, cleaned, and turned on over.... no dramas at
all :)
Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand akeakekiakaha

... that locals would go to, as opposed to here which were
Subways and KFCs. We walked around and I found this awesome store Nood,
like a smaller version of iKea but nicer stuff.

2:15 PM - We
were able to check in and valet our car just in time for our
paragliding guy to pick us up in the lobby. In the car was another guy
Chris, who would ...