Akron Motel Christchurch

... macchina, ovviamente parcheggiata in
strada. Il proprietario dell'ostello ci porta con lui una mattina a
pescare aragoste di cui e' ricca la baia. L'ostello si trova
praticamente sul mare ed infatti un giorno usciamo sulla spiaggia e
notiamo qualcosa di strano nell'acqua: si tratta di delfini che vengono
a giocare tra le onde. Ci resta un giorno di macchina, per cui ci
dirigiamo a Christchurch, da dove ...

My first stop on the South Island was a little place called Nelson. Most people pass it by but reading about it, it sounded like a nice little place and I’m really glad I stopped. The hostel I stayed at was like a home from home with lots of little homely touches. There were a group of guys from Tahiti staying there as well and the day I arrived was their last day, which meant big celebrations. They had a huge feast then did some traditional dancing ...

... as the bus!!! When you go through the 'Homer Tunnel' into the main valley, windey roads make an awesome sight. Mazda even used it in their 'Zoom-Zoom' commercials. Once at the Sound (big lake!), we got on the boat for a yummy buffet lunch and a cruise around this incredible attraction.

Before we knew it, we were on our way back to the exciting town of Christchurch again. After a goodbye meal with the people we had met along the way, we were off to Fiji!

Spent most of the day driving cross country to Christchurch. Stopped off at the Mt Cook salmon farm on way and picked up a whole salmon for 8 pounds!! Then had lunch at the Farm Barn in Fairlie which overlooks the most scenic valley I've ever come across. Wrongly decided to drive the scenic route to CC, which is very exposed and not good in gales and driving rain (luckily Jen was driving!). Then my sun visor broke so I had ...

We got away from Hamner quite early and were back on SH1 by 9:30am, the road from Hamner via Culverden to the Waipara junction with SH1 is wider and straighter than those from Kaikoura to Culverden but if you are on them early morning beware of frost, something us Aussies aren't to familiar with.
I wish someone had told me there were so many wineries around Waipara, I would have planned to allow more time but I had already arranged to meet up with a friend ...

... took quite a few pictures of botanical things. It kept me amused! My first roommate in the hostel was the lovely Marem, who happened to be German, which was pretty handy as I'm trying to learn to speak German. Although I'm far from the stage of actually being able to converse at the moment! We decided one night that we should go for a day trip the next day with her friend Carina. Carina's van is one of the backpacker vans you see regularly in these parts, all of them spray ...

... seen it before, I think you can watch the new, updated version online for free. I really encourage you to watch it. Here is the link for the website: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.p hp Then, for intercession time this morning, we watched a short video on abortion and prayed into that. And tonight, we had a guest speaker from the YWAM PhotogenX 2-year school ...

... that a ride on the tram was in order; it was only fair, as the trams had blatantly been stolen from Blackpool! Getting off at the art gallery and then accidentally walking to the next stop, which was all of 10 metres away, I did ponder at why exactly it was necessary to have the tram in the first place and why you could only buy a 2 day pass, considering the tiny distance the tram actually covers. The craft market had ...

... is just ideal for us. The sitting room and bedroom is all in one, which is not great when i am on shifts but it is cheap and that is the whole point so we can save as much as possible for the next part of our trip. We managed to rent bikes for the time we are here from our landlord, which is highly amusing as i haven't been on a bike for about 10 years!! It was a bit wobbly to start with!! And we were about passing out after a half hour ...

So the flight was long, but I managed to sleep through most of it, and at the end found myself bus-bound for downtown Christchurch with a mission ot find transportation. Using airport brochures as a guide, I wandered the town checking out backpacker campervan markets, backpacker car dealerships, and rental car agencies till my head could take no more. By the way, if you're ever navigating with ...