Warners Historic Hotel Christchurch

... and all the shops and cafes round had opened up too. A spot of dinner, and we went into the Southern Experience. Now this is largely Another Bloody Aquarium and IMHO here's only so many of them you want to see in a lifetime, unless maybe you're a cat. However, they do have a USP - they have some real kiwis. I read somewhere that the vast majority of New Zealanders have never seen a kiwi, so it felt wrong to come all this way and miss the opportunity ...

... which serves its drinks out of teapots!!! Yes, you did read that correctly, teapots!! It was full of people on the dance floor drinking out of the spouts!!!! This was followed by the best burger shop in the WORLD! FergBurger is home to the biggest and weirdest burgers you can imagine. They had cool names like 'Cock-a-doodle Oink' (Chicken and bacon burger). The problem came when you tried to eat it. They were sooooo huge that for once, you didnt need chips ...

... place called "our space". It was a bit boring with not a great deal of interesting exhibits. Next was the impressive and contemporary Christchurch Art Gallery. There was some really fascinating and querky contemporary artworks here, such as the 'peep hole', where you can see through the hole, and an alien hanging on the wall, and other weird/different artworks. I then went to the galleries and shops section of the 'Arts centre' where they ...

... 12 hour wait for the flight to Christchurch) then sleep for much of the last 10 hours down to ChCh. Ok. It's a theory isn't it. It has been a lot of fun, I've seen some amazing things but it will be good to get home to the family and animals. It you've followed my travels and thoughts as I've gone I hope you're enjoyed the ride. When I started I probably thought of the first British chunk as the most important to me. Now I think the ...

... her arm &amp; off they went. It was hilarious! <br><br>We took Laura to see Larnach Castle while Christina &amp; I waited outside for her. I thanked God it was the only castle in NZ, otherwise Laura would have wanted to wander around each &amp; every one of them, eying meticulous details &amp; taking thousands of photographs...not my scene at all!<br><br>Afterwards, we drove on to Te Anau ready to depart on our Milford Sound cruise the next day. We had a nice Italian meal ...

... way back!! By this point, the change in temperature had give me the cold, so when we rolled up in Wanaka and there was snow on the hills and the threat of more I knew we wouldn't be staying long. If fact we only stayed the night before heading on to Dunedin of some rest and recuperation. They call it the Edinburgh of the South, but if they'd been to Edinburgh they wouldn't call it that. There was a lot of loose Scottish links, including Woolen Mill shop ...

... Mais ne vous en faites pas pour nous... le soleil de l'Australie risque de nous aider a oublier le chargin que nous avons ressenti en quittant ce beau pays qu'est la Nouvelle-Zelande! Ps. Pour des raisons obscures, nous avons perdu toutes nos photos de l'Ile du Sud. Celles que vous verez ont donc ete prises par Julie et Nadine. Il manque donc un bon nombre d'images superbes que nous vous ferons voir a notre retour au Quebec grace a Mathieu.

... in various vans, include an extra flight and halve our time in Fiji. By the time we get back to the hostel I am pretty miserable. I had set out to finish this trip with ten thousand pounds in the bank. A noble quest I know and not something that every traveller is aiming for, but then most travellers aren't thirty. I genuinely have a feeling that I failed somewhere along the way to protect my savings and it would take a further 20% of my net worth to get us home in the manner I ...

... satisfied we went for a scout around town and went for the cheap option of drinking on the streets as it's legal in Queenstown. Later on we were given some vouchers for cheap drinks at a bar where a funky band were playing ... female lead was awesome! Lois flung herself around the dance floor as usual and tried to get me up but as I am not yet feeling that confident I chose to guard our drinks instead. Next morning we left Queenstown with the feeling that we would ...

... the exception of Invercargill. I would love to return one day, with more time to explore and hopefully someone to explore with, but there's so many other places I want to see and things to do. Just talking to some of the wonderful people I met in Christchurch made me realise that I don't really want an ultimate destination. Being away from home always makes you realise what you have and often take for granted, but at what point do you settle for that? I've moved ...