Bye Bye New Zealand!

Being in Christchurch was a funny little experience for me. Firstly, I kept seeing signs everywhere for Canterbury Christchurch, Canterbury Museum, Canterbury this, Canterbury that. It took me back to the days of living in Kent and particularly my fun year living in Canterbury whilst I was at art college....ahh the good old days where the next few years were mapped out for you in a series of terms and holiday blocks. Also the times where you didn't have to fret too much about getting a job/running up an overdraft/finding a bed for the night/new freckles etc. But hey, the unknown is the exciting part I'm told!

I shed a tear as Gemma got into the shuttle bus and on her way to the airport to commence her mammoth journey back to the UK, taking her some 36 hours at least when you take into account her two changes in Sydney and Bangkok. Felt like an end of an era after our 10 weeks travel together. I believe she is back safe and sound now, and was greeted at the arrivals gate by her boyfriend and his nephew with banners reading "Welcome home Gemma" and "We love Gingers". Brilliant! Infact I shed another tear at this point...what a beautiful moment that must have been...though don't worry I'm not missing England at all and I'm quite happy where I am ta! Though of course you could all show your love and appreciation by wiring some money if you like?! :-)

Jon and I, abandoned by J Lo Gemma, wandered off to fend for ourselves and consequently got lost straight away. A few directions later and we found ourselves somewhere to eat some brekkie and sort our lives out for the next few days left in New Zealand before we were due to fly to Australia. Christchurch, as lovely as it was, wasn't enough to keep up occupied for the next five days, so we decided to hire a campervan and do our own thing for a bit before reuniting with Sarah and a few other of the team from the Stray bus. We collected our van the next day, called a Wicked Camper, which was affectionately named Tea Bag and covered in spray paint graffitti, and loaded some kit into the back. Feeling rather nervous about driving an automatic van in a different country (NZ drive on the same side of the road to us which made it easier!), I ordered Jon to stay awake the entire time so that I had a map reader! I got beeped once in Christchurch within the first half hour...haha well surely they could see we were tourists?! But we made it out of Christchurch quite easily and followed the scenic road up to a town called Kaikoura. The drive was a lot of fun, beautiful rolling country side and snow capped mountains as ever, as well as crashing waves on the seafronts next to us. Unfortunately the radio signal cut out shortly after leaving Christchurch so poor Jon had to put up with my choice of music (the only CD I had was Manu Chow) but we had a good time all the same. We pulled up in Kaikoura after about three hours, cooked ourselves a spot of dinner from the little cooker in the back (wrapped up in many layers and freezing to death) and then headed straight to the pub to warm up. We ended up joining in with a pub quiz actually. Two local kiwis must have taken pity on us, as every other table had large groups formed, whereas Jon and I sat with just the two of us! We had a good evening chatting to them, and they told us where to park up for the night. We blasted the heating on in the van before bedding down for the night...infact it wasn't too bad really, not too chilly really. We work up the next morning to sunrise on the beach and snow capped mountains...incredible. A lady was getting into her car next to us and she said "It's paradise isn't it? And I pinch myself as I wake up to it every morning" Ahhh...write that down as a meaniful quote!

We took ourselves off to Maruia Springs that day which was a bit more inland. More lovely scenes and winding roads. We drove through a lot of towns which were like ghost towns...seemed to be nobody about everywhere we went! We finally arrived at Maruia Springs, and excitedly booked a session in the hot pools and Japanese spas. It was amusing to have to walk speedily in bathing suits in the freezing cold, and sit in the spas as quickly as the temperature would allow...but once immersed in soothing heat and the natural minerals in the spa pools, overlooking the mountainside, we were happy! An odd sensation to be in the cold air but to feel warm in the spa pools! How very relaxing and worth the drive!

On the drive back we started freaking out as the petrol light flashed up, and we were by this point in the middle of nowhere and it was pitch black. A very tense ride that was I tell you! We were trying to calm ourselves by noting that there was always a car ahead or behind us, so that if the worst happened at least we could try flagging someone...though Jon did start recalling all sorts of stories he remembered from Crimewatch and scaring himself that we could end up in a similar situation....thanks Jon! Just the sort of conversation we needed at that point! Going uphill was the worst bit, the petrol all ran to the back of the tank and the petrol light was threating to stop us in our tracks, then a sigh of relief as we cruised down hill for a bit more....oh dear you can see the pattern here? Finally, after what seemed like an age of gripping the wheel and negotiating all the sharp bends, we finally saw a Mobil garage. Phew!! So in we pulled, hearts lifting again, until we then saw that you needed a Mobil club card in order to use the stupid thing. The air was cursed like pandemonium and we slammed the doors to drive back on our way. Who only allows Mobil club members to use their petrol tanks? Surely that is bad for business - they just lost our custom didn't they! All was ok in the end as we found another garage and filled up. Thank goodness we had not broken down before then, would have been very intimidating in the countryside and would have broken the bank to have call out charges etc..but hey, these stories make it the adventure it was I guess!

Once back in Christchurch the next day we met up with Sarah and a few others to do a day of sightseeing in Christchurch. We visited the Botanic gardens and some markets and also a few art galleries at the arts centre. That evening we sat and watched the All Blacks v Australia rugby game in the pub, absolutely loved the haka and brought back the memories of our cultural evening earlier on in the month where the boys in our group had learnt how to perform it. Sadly, Christchurch by night was not as great as it was by day, so we gave up on the rubbish bars after a while and went to bed. Australia the next day!!!! Yippee!

So yes, we are now in Australia, Cairns to be exact. I left my coat and winter clothes behind in New Zealand for someone else to make use of, and I am now sat here in shorts and a top, not feeling cold what so ever. Lovely. Yesterday, Jon, Sarah and I went on a boat trip around the Great Barrier Reef which was great. Snorkelling was incredible. Even better was my chance to fly in a helicopter which was something that I have always longed to do. Seeing the Great Barrier Reef from 500ft above was so exciting, and amazingly beautiful. The ten minute ride seemed to go in seconds which was shame but it was such a good experience. There should be a ton of photos on facebook to follow.

We're staying put in Cairns for a bit until we decide what to do with ourselves. Today we had our first Australian barbeque out on the seafront and I even tried a tiny piece of kangaroo meat - bloody disgusting. Don't do it. We're off out tonight, and then tomorrow I'll try get onto the job hunt again. Fingers crossed.

That's about all for now. Ta ra.

Farewell Gemma

Ok so I'm sat staring at the computer screen, willing my brain to remember what I've been up to since my last entry...so bear with me.

So our few days in Wellington was really cool, so we left the blue skies to make our way to Queenstown. On the journey down south we stopped in a place called Franz Josef. We stayed two nights there so that we could take advantage of the hiking activities on the glacier. So bright and early our big group of Strays headed down to the reception to get kitted out with waterproof (remember that key word) outer clothing and hiking boots, sufficient for the day ahead of us. We winced somewhat at the grey clouds and spots of rain, but decided to remain positive and assure ourselves that dry weather was on the cards. A few last minute snoozing and a bus journey later, strapped up in plastic sheeting legwear and flattering overcoats, we grudingly piled off the coach and onto the wet, rainy setting of Franz Josef glacier. Off we set on our full day hike. In the rain. Which didn't stop...all day. On the bright side, we successfully climbed through ice caves with ice boots and pick aces, up several ice steps and down varying levels of the glacier to see panoramic and foggy views of the impressive, natural landscape. But back to the moans - we were absolutely soaked through!! Being the safety conscious traveller that I am, I wore my money belt that day, and even my passport got soggy! Not good.

To cheer things up, we all went down to some hot springs at the end of the day to rest our weary limbs and chat about the days events. The hot springs were so, so good - three pools ranging from 36 to 40 degrees....pure luxury! Felt a bit light headed getting out of them mind!

From Franz Josef we stopped off at a few nice places before eventually getting to Queenstown. We stayed five nights and met up with our friend Jon (that we'd met on Koh Phi Phi). Queenstown has been really good - a kiwi pub crawl, winning wet t-shirt competitions (guess who!), jet boating, Gemma and Sarah's killer bungy jump (134m!), Fergburger dinners and a day of skiing.

Skiing. Man, I am not meant to slide down slopes gracefully. I spent the morning feeling cranky, tired and bloody useless at skiing! I spent more time on my bum than I did standing up! The ski instructor, bless him, had a lot of patience for me, and some how knew my name straight away. Probably because I was the Bambi of the group! (Maybe that's an insult to bambi?) Gemma, Sarah and Jon took a lot more naturally to skiing than I did! Having said that, by the afternoon I had managed to ski down the nursery slope and travel up on the ski lift a good four or five times without falling over - nice one! I have to tell you importantly, that I avoided collisions with any other skiers so I was quite pleased with that (obviously I made myself fall over instead of learning how to stop!) but Gemma managed to plough into people on at least three occasions, taking out several people at a time! Then she proceeded to head on to the intermediate slope, before realising that she wasn't quite up to speed with this level, thus requiring tandem skiing with the new ski instructor in order to get back down the slope. I take my hat off to her for her bravery!!

Today we are all aching like hell, my arms and shoulders in particular from the amount of times I flew arse over tit and my poles went flying! Even other snow boarding instructors were starting to recognise me when I needed assistance back onto my feet! Oh the humiliation, thank god I just lay in the snow laughing at myself. Anyhoo. So Queenstown was cool. Absolutely full of stunning snow boarding Australians (I had the fortunate pleasure of sharing a lift with three of them in my hostel!) We've left Sarah in Queenstown for a few extra days, while Gemma, Jon and I travelled onto Christchurch today. Our bus broke down half way so we were quite late arriving. Ah well it could have been worse. We were thankful to have smuggled Jon onto the Stray Tour Bus without having paid for a ticket (we owe our bus driver a drink or two now!) which was really helpful. Jon's having a bit of a battle adjusting to backpacker life at the moment. The poor guy has never cooked a meal in his life, always eats out in trendy places and stays in nice hotels (perks of working for Virgin) and currently doing well stopping smoking without too much disorder. I'm on a mission to get him cooking and penny pinching, else we'll both be back in England in two weeks. Funds are low. Job hunting is high on the agenda next week when we get to Cairns (as well as sunbathing, he tells me).

Gemma gets on her flight back to the UK tomorrow! :( How very sad for us, we will miss her and her Gemmaisms. Rudeys, minnies, enemers, fudge buckets, J Lo, Eutopia, Estanbul and tiddlywinks. What a girl.

Time for me to go. Maori kiss x x

Climate shock!

I have never felt jet lag in the same way as I did when I arrived in Auckland! I guess if I hadn't have stayed up drinking wine with Gemma and Sarah, and missed some films to get some sleep then maybe the change over in Melbourne and the continuation onto Auckland might not have felt so bad! The drive into Auckland felt very much like a bus ride through England on a November day, and finally I felt grateful for carrying round a hoodie, jeans and a waterproof for the past two months in Asia!

We stayed in central Auckland for a couple of days to get our bearings, get over the long flight from Singapore and to do a bit of shopping! Mainly for winter clothes and in my case, for a new camera (someone remind me to claim back on my tax before I leave for Australia!). We booked ourselves onto a Stray Bus Tour for the month (like Kiwi Experience bus tours but for an older and more sophisticated age group, obviously), and set off a few days later to travel through the North and South Islands. We whizzed through the North Island fairly quickly, stopping off everyday at different locations. The scenery along the way has been absolutely stunning, mountainous, green, rolling countryside everywhere. I have not seen a bad place yet!

Raglan was pretty sweet, a great little surfing town with amazing beaches. Sarah and Gemma went for a surf but I decided to leave that for the warmer weather in Australia! I was quite happy to snuggle up in my new coat and drink beer on a picnic bench with the rest of the bus! Another stop off was in Maketu for a Maori cultural evening, where we watched Maori guys perform the haka (they were very scary!!) and then we all had a go learning traditional dances. This was also Sarah's 25th birthday, so a few drinks were consumed along with birthday cake!

We have been on several walks through National Parks, looking like proper hikers with trousers tucked into our socks (very glamourous!) seeing amazing views, lots of snow capped mountains, caves with tiny glow worms inside (magical!), millions of waterfalls and crashing waves on gorgeous beach coves....New Zealand is just beautiful. I can completely see why so many people move out here - apart from the amazing landscapes around you, it is very quiet with such a small population, not many cars on the road, everything so clean etc etc. The winter season is not such a draw back either, as once again we benefit from discounted prices, and as long as you can put up with wearing a coat, hat and scarf it is fine. In fact, Gemma and Sarah had their bobble hats custom made for them by a fellow Stray bus traveller who passed the time on bus journeys by crocheting!

We got off the bus finally when we hit Wellington, staying here for three nights with some of the group. A big night out was definately on the agenda! Team building of course! We loved Wellington (capital of New Zealand) - it felt just like a big town rather than a capital. We amused ourselves at a great museum (free) called Te Papa museum for several hours, before stumbling across a boat quay with spherical sculptures - for those of you on facebook, you will see that we spent at least an hour messing around with a digital camera and the video function. Gemma's videos were hilarious, strutting about like a catwalk model, then running after joggers on the boat quay (before complaining to them that she couldn't keep up with them since she wasn't wearing her sports bra that day!), then she decided to run after skateboarders, flash her bra..etc the list goes on. A lot of laughs that day!

We are now in the South Island, and heading for Queenstown in a few days where we are planning to meet up with our friend Jon that we met on Koh Phi Phi. Gemma's countdown begins around now, as she flies back on 19th aug, but Sarah, Jon and I still have Australia to look forward to.

Reckon that is all I can squeeze in for an entry before my computer cuts out!

Love you all! Love New Zealand! Sweet as.