Rendezvous Hotel Clarion Coll Christchurch

... This left us with three hours to explore Christchurch itself, which is a really nice city. We got a ticket for the tram which does a loop around the main streets. We hopped off at the botanical gardens and had a walk around... Jon was disappointed as the Bonsai House was closed, but there were some really cool huge trees and lovely flowers. Next we went punting on the Avon... this was a very relaxing way to see the city, including ...

... Easy drinker but with class. Raspberry on the nose, light in colour and weight &#8211; crisp, fresh with good length. Very summery.<br><br>2008 Waipara Selection Pinot Noir &#8211; Garrigue, mushrooms, truffle and black fruit notes on the nose! Smooth palette &#8211; again quite a light style but with good character &#8211; amazing for an &#8217;08.<br><br>Waipara Springs - My final Vineyard for the day and a pleasant tasting ...

... life was Sao biscuits with tomato, home grown of course.&#8221; &#8220;But you would get suck of et&#8221;<br><br><br><br>The Grey River was named after Sir George Grey, a politician. In 1988 it put Greymouth under one metre of water so they built a high wall to keep the river back. It is now a nice place to go for a stroll if you spend time in Greymouth, which few people do. I did find a nice shoe shop there though, ad was very tempted. H bought a maroon scarf (Qld colours of ...

Today, I went with one of the base staff into Christchurch. Her name is Jae Hyun, and she is Korean but will be going to live in Japan sometime next year. She currently runs hospitality here at the YWAM Oxford base. First, we went to a Korean church, and I ended up reading and working on my book report. Then, she took me to a Japanese church ...

... hostel as my book on mapping the geology of the British isle's was just to heavy going but I think I flown a bit to extremes. It was in fact a worryingly good impression of a teenager, hanging around, flying to extremes and energy drink consuming. My clothes did fit though, something that was rare when I was a actual teenager, as I bought mostly XL men's t-shirts, I was fat but not THAT fat, I'm only 5'6". The bus ...

... tram ride round the short city loop in a carriage which was over 60 years old. Afterwards we took a short drive out of the city to the gondola ride, which took us to the top of Mt. Cavendish where we got great 360 views over the city and neighbouring Lyttlton Harbour. Next we paid a short visit to Lyttlton before taking the scenic Summit Road back to Christchurch which gave us even more spectacular views.

... shopping on the way. We managed to pick up a birthday cake so sang to Daniel before going for an early tea. As we were rather tired we had an hours kip before getting ready and hitting the town. Once we were all dressed and ready we went to Mad Cow, as it was a Wednesday night it was rather quiet but this didn't stop us having fun. After several drinks in Mad Cow we moved on to Micky Finns where we finished the night with a live band and many crazy people on the dance floor.

... stands, we drew a name of another person and have the privilege to dress them up however we feel appropriate.... so tomorrow morning, as if our group doesn't already attract attention for being large/loud... we will be quite the scene! I still don't know what my attire will be but I'm sure it will be crowd pleasing to say the least. (I will post pictures for your viewing pleasure). So, farewell from New Zealand.... see you in Ausi Much MUCH Love, Andrea Kay.

... among many others (Scott even has a statue in the city, erected after his ill-fated 1912 expedition to the South Pole). It was the largest city that was quite close to Antarctica and a good starting point for an expedition. Building on that tradition, today the Americans from McMurdo station as well as the New Zealanders and the Italians have their support bases here and the Antarctic Center is a great place to learn more about the Southern Continent. It has ...

... fact that we had to pass several 'class 5' places... It lasted almost the whole day but we also got some sandwiches for breakfast and had a barbecue after the trip. And last but not least we were also really lucky with the weather which cleared up during the day and on the other hand still wasn't too hot. When I arrived in Christchurch it was already in the evening, but this time this is ok, because I also have the whole day tomorrow to see ...