Earnslaw Motel Christchurch

... proprio in uno di questi
tentativi di fotografare l'acqua viviamo una delle cose piu' brutte di
tutto il viaggio. Eravamo su una roccia alla foce di un ruscello e
intentavamo di fotografare il mondo dal pelo dell'acqua, quando un'onda
ha deciso di tentare la scalata del fiume: macchina fotografica
bagnata. L'abbiamo asciugata, si e' ripresa per un momento prima di
lasciarci definitivamente. Adesso ne ...

... to Greymouth where the visitor's center, a cafe, and the Wobbly Kea restaurant and bar are the biggest (only) draw.

We hiked the Bridal Veils Fall trail and attempted the Devil's Punchbowl Falls trail only to find it closed. We still got a pretty good view of the falls. As we exited the woods, we came upon a local man video taping some strange but beautiful looking birds. They are the New Zealand Kea...a New Zealand ...

... one, you can go up a very steep cable car to a look-out post and luging track! This is basically where you sit in an engineless go-kart and use gravity to speed down the tracks! Beckie 'the snail' Barry was scared at first but soon managed to keep up with Rob 'Lewis Hamilton' Starkl-Johnson. The views were breathtaking and so was the cold!!!!!

That night we went for a night of indulgence. This consisted of a number of cocktails in the 'World ...

... s been a year and a half since we saw them but it felt like it was only last week. We had a great time in the pools, laughing and catching up, though I managed to lose half of my clothes in the excitement (which luckily were handed into reception)!

On Friday, Nick and Anna showed us more highlights of Christchurch and we went back to the museum to view an exhibition called 'Fred and Myrtle's Paur Shell House' - Kiwiana at ...

... before) and had a catch up rest from the most action packed 2 weeks of my life!!! :)

Then the next day we got up at 4am to leave for our 6am flight!!
We packed(cramed) everything into our backpacks and left to meet Kirsty in Cairns!!

x

... kind of similar to Dunedin and Wellington, nice enough but not a whole to do. The gang from Manchester were still with us and it was one of their birthday's so once again we decided to go out and help celebrate that night. Fun and games all round but sore heads on Saturday which ended up being a bit of a write off. P.S. We forgot to post the pictures for the Cadbury's chocolate factory on our last blog so we've added them now.

This week's topic was the "Character and Nature of God," and Eric Demeter from Indiana was our speaker. He went through this Discipleship Training School and has also staffed the school, and this year he came and spoke. It was really good just getting to know God better. Wow, He is so amazing, and His love is so radical! We took a look at God throughout both the Old and New Testament and how He is constant and unchanging. In the Old Testament, we looked at God's covenants and ...

... us with this word: "Be bold." Joshua 1:9 - "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." This really encouraged both of us, and later we found out that they were from YWAM based in Australia as well and doing their outreach. Then, we all drove back to Oxford for dinner at 6. It was a really fun day!

... We have received over 4,000 hits from you all and some comments from the public too. Our experience was just amazing from the intense travelling and site seeing in Europe to the beautiful and laid back Oz and the lusciously scenic New Zealand and we are glad that you have followed us from one end of the world to the other. So thank you for all your support and we wish you all the best for 2009 Your travelling friends Jamie and Heather xx

So, to the dismay of a few and pleasure of who gives a ****, my journey does not end in Nelson. After spending the weekend in the city with a heart that I had grown so fond of, with the people who have made it what it is, I said goodbye and drove into the night. Fast and wet the rain broke in fury against the lone windshield stealing through the dark. Light ethereal, ghosts in ...