Glenalvon Lodge Motel and B&B Hanmer Springs

... me to go white water rafting again. After my last scary experience, I wasn't at all keen. However, it was a grade 2 river. It was really good fun - there were only 4 of us in the boat and the scenery was lovely. A bright blue river because of the minerals from the rocks. We jumped off a rock into the river at one point when we stopped. Dave went of a high one (about 7 metres) and I went off a lower one (I don't think ...

... then, obviously, all downhill on the way back, making my knee sore. The waterfall was neat, but I've seen better, even back in Arkansas. It was enjoyable but nothing special.

After the hike we headed to Christchurch and spent that evening wandering around the city center, Cathedral Square. Chirstchurch is a cool city; we managed to get there in time for the last few days of its biennial Arts Festival ...

... here. The guy that told us about the waterfall said it would take about 2 hours - it took more like 3 hours. We haven't been able to hike as much as we thought, so its great when we get too.



We rewarded ourselves by visiting the HOT SPRINGS! Oh, how wonderful they were. There were 20 different pools or something crazy like that. Whether it was the temp or the minerals found in the water, all the ...

... obwohl, ich glaube fast, das Benzin muss ich doch bezahlen). Und sie schleppen das Auto sogar in die Werkstatt, falls ich liegen bleiben sollte. Jetzt fuehle ich mich viel sicherer. Denn wer Versicherungsschutz hat braucht ihn ja meistens nicht. Heute abend gehe ich mit meiner Gastgeberin und einem Haufen ihrer Freunde erst thailaendisch Essen und anschliessend das Musical Miss Saigon angucken, das seit einer Woche hier aufgefuehrt wird. Und morgen geht es dann endlich los!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

... from a sandfly. We had a couple of beers, returned to the campsite for a dinner of yesterdays leftover sauce with peppers, mushrooms and pasta, had a quick go on the ludicrously expensive campsite internet and then finished watching "a time to kill" Sandflies - 6 Treansport: Campervan Wildlife: Weka Pukeko New Zealand Falcon Blackbacked gull Paradise Shelduck Pied Shag Australian Magpie Masked Lapwing Chaffinch Bellbird Fantail Blackswan

... hills and the hills looked spotted with white dots. The other sheep are in large fenced in pastures along the road. I seem to have this thing about getting a nice picture of a field of sheep up close. Yesterday, as we drove along. the perfect picture opportunity of hundreds of fenced in sheep presented itself and Tim quickly pulled over. As I jumped out of the car the sheep took one look at me and stampeded away from ...

... next to a river which was frezzing cold. Noone else was there except for about 5 mins when a couple of guys came along to collect some firewood and nearly caught J in the nuddy as he was getting changed into his swim shorts! Hilarious!! We sat in the thermal pools for a while but the sand flies were pretty bad and ended up forcing us to leave which was a shame. Back on the road towards Murchison......

... uns auf den Kopf geschneiregnet, und unsere Sachen waren in unversperrbaren Faechern gut aufgehoben... Nach 2 1/2 Stunden war unsere Haut "gollum-aehnlich" und wir mussten die Flucht ergreifen... Am naechsten Tag ging es weiter ueber den ersten schneebedeckten Pass namens Lewis. Aber dazu mehr im naechsten Eintrag... stay tuned!!!

... was with Tiaki, nicknamed Mr T due to his sheer size. He is on the surface digesting his last catch for breakfast. As we watch on, he takes a final breath before his next dive and disappears below, giving us a view of his powerful tail as he descends again. The water here is 1200m deep and the whales will stay under for between 30-60 minutes each time. We move on to see 3 other sperm whales in the area; Upoko named due to his big head, Tutu with a nice tail ...

PHOTOS - http://rdg.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 486&l=c0ccd&id=510168221 Hi Everyone, Charlotte here-It's my turn to write a quick update and write something wonderful about our great day at sea today. However, there are a few places that we stayed which I need to whizz through before Kaikoura, namely Dunedin and Christchurch. Dunedin was okay, we arrived in the pouring rain (and already soaking wet having go on the hunt for giant ...