New Zealand 23/08/09 - 19/02/10

The end!

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:31:36 GMT

So, that was my trip.

I thought I'd just link some of my favourite photos in one last post. Some of these I may have posted before.

Batu Caves, KL:

Mt Cook:

West Coast:

Driving to Lake Pukaki:

Lake Hawea:

Rapaki:

Kaikoura:

Kenepuru Sound:

Diving in Tairua:

Otama beach:

Waikari:

Wellington:

Fire dancers in Christchurch:

Honeymoon Bay:

Cape Reinga:

So, a very small selection of the 1,400 photos I took! I've missed loads out and I don't think I'd be able to put all of my memories into such a small space.

Anyway, that's me done for a while. I hope I'll return to NZ in the future if only for three or so weeks. I had an awesome time and I don't think I'd change much of what I did/achieved. If you did read from start to finish I hope you enjoyed what I wrote as well as the photos, I'm sure I'll be willing to bore you with more pictures if you ask. :)

Nic

Last week in NZ...

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:23:23 GMT

So, on Saturday I left Christchurch to fly up to Auckland to visit the Northland region of New Zealand.

I arrived in Auckland and after a mix up with my car hire (they had overbooked so moved me to another dealer) I drove up to Whangarei (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whangarei) where I thought I had booked a hostel. Sadly, it turned out I had booked one in Whanganui (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whanganui) but luckily YHA swapped the bookings so it was just wasted time rather than money.

Sunday I decided to visit the Bay of Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_islands) as well as the Treaty of Waitangi grounds. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Waitangi) The Bay of Islands was pretty amazing and I had pretty good weather to go with it.

The treaty grounds were fairly interesting as well as they hosted the legislation that effectively led to the creation of New Zealand as part of the British empire as well as confirmation of Maori rights. This was the house owned by James Busby, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Busby) the chap who basically pushed the entire thing through.

Monday morning I woke early to go diving off the Poor Knights marine reserve. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Knights_Islands) It was about a 45 minute boat trip to get the dive spot and again it was decent weather. The islands were full of wildlife as well as various rock arches and whatnot.

I was supposed to do two dives but on my second my breathing got quite short so I decided to sit and go kayaking instead. Sadly I didn't see any turtles but there were lots of other critters and fish swimming about.

The day after I left Whangarei to go to Ahipara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahipara), just at the south end of Ninety Mile Beach. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety_Mile_Beach,_New_Zealand) I drove along the coast to the very tip of the North Island - Cape Reinga. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Reinga)

The coastline was pretty impressive:

On the drive back I stopped at the Te Paki sand dunes and by this point it was stupidly hot and I struggled to climb up to do some sledging. I did manage it but didn't go that fast due to the heat making friction an issue.

I only spent a day in Ahipara before driving to Mangawhai Heads on Wednesday evening (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangawhai_Heads) - a small town about 1.5hrs north of Auckland.

Heading to Auckland I was staying in a hotel for my last night so I could sort my luggage out as well as getting a good nights sleep for the flight. Auckland was busy driving through but I'm glad I spent a night there sorting out various things before my flight.

So, my last day rolled around and I left Auckland airport at around 14:00 and landed in Kuala Lumpur at 20:00. My flight to Heathrow was at 11 the next day so I stayed in the transit hotel from 23:00 to 8 the next day so I got an okay amount of sleep before the 12 hour flight back to the UK.

The flights were okay, long and uneventful and I was pretty glad when they were over!

So, there you have it - my final week in New Zealand! (This time around anyway...)

Anyway, see you all soon!

Off to Honeymoon Bay

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:41:49 GMT

So from the 2nd of October to the 10th I was at my housemates bach (http://maps.google.co.nz/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=-41.030991,173.02138&spn=0.00157,0.003428&z=18) near Kaiteriteri.

The bach was built in the 1940's and was sat right on the edge of beach/bush divide. The actual road down to Honeymoon Bay was private which meant very few holidaymakers/tourists actually knew about the beach - when it was high tide the beach in front of the bach was cut off by the sea as well which was pretty cool.

Four of us went up on the second and we were joined by another two friends a couple of days later. There were enough beds for six people to sleep comfortably, but obviously more people could sleep if needs be.

The view from the bach was pretty impressive! You can see in this photo where the sea comes up to cut the beach into two.

Over the week I didn't really do "touristy" stuff, but we relaxed on the beach, did some kayaking, swam in the sea (warm), BBQs every night and other things like that.

We also had a bonfire set up on the beach and had marshmallows.

On one of the days I kayaked round the corner to Ngaio Bay which was a lot wider than the bay we were on.

We had awesome weather for all the days we were there with the exception of the day we came home when it was a bit overcast. Again you can see where the bay is split into two as well as Breaker Bay in the bottom left corner of the photo. I swam to Breaker Bay on one occasion - further than it looks!

I think this was one of the nicest holiday homes I've ever been to and it was pretty amazing Andy's grandparents let us use it for free. I'd been looking forward to going since September and it was worth the wait!

I'm leaving Christchurch tomorrow as I enter my final week and heading up to the Northland region. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northland_Region) I'll be staying in Whangarei (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whangarei) for a few days and then heading up to 90 Mile Beach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety_Mile_Beach,_New_Zealand) for a day. I'm also going to be scuba diving again off the Poor Knights Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Knights_Islands) which should be pretty amazing.

Auckland will be my final spot and I'll spend the 18th there before catching my flight on the 19th and landing at Heathrow on 20th in the afternoon.

I hope everyone is well at home and I'll see you all very soon!

Last few weeks...

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:32:20 GMT

Sadly I haven't been doing much fun stuff since getting back from Wellington. I've managed to sell my car for $1,700 (bought for $1,500) and I've always had to find a new person to take my room. Had some really bad applicants but I've now got that sorted so I'm happy that I've come to the realization that I'll be back in the UK in less than a month.

It's been the World Buskers Festival (http://www.worldbuskersfestival.com/) for the last week in Christchurch so I've seen a few cool acts over a couple of days.

This was an acrobatic act called "The Navigators".

Fire dance act called "Flame Oz".

Pole gymnast:

Really, really cool festival. Obviously it's all busking so you pay what you think for each act, but it's quite interesting to see loads of different performances from all round the world.

Last night I went to see Wellington Phoenix play Adelaide United as they were doing a one off game at the AMI stadium in Christchurch.

The ground had only three stands until recently but the newly completed one had its first trial run for this match.

I was sat at one end of the stadium but the view was pretty poor so I sneaked into another stand which wasn't open for the match. Adelaide weren't that great and Wellington were slightly better - possibly English middle/bottom of division one standard? (at a push)

Only one steward was in that stand and she somehow missed me! Attendance was just under 20,000 - Phoenix's highest for the season. The final score was 1:0 to Wellington which puts them in their highest ever position in the league at fourth!

I am going away from Tuesday right through to the week after to a friends bach (holiday home) kind of near Nelson. It fronts onto a beach called Honeymoon Bay (http://maps.google.co.nz/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=-41.030991,173.02138&spn=0.00157,0.003428&z=18) which at has its own beach at high tide.

So I'll be there until the 10th then I am leaving Christchurch on the 13th to head to Auckland and then I will be visiting the Northland region (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northland_Region) from then until the 18th.

I'll write more about what I'm going to be doing there when I'm back from the holiday home in a week or so.

Hope everyone is well!

P.S Hi Mike!

Off to Wellington

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:02:38 GMT

So, off to the capital city!

I left Tuesday afternoon to fly up and I landed in Wellington (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington) around four ish. I caught the bus into the city, found my hostel then went on a late afternoon/early evening walk to get my bearings.

From my initial walk, Wellington seemed a pretty nice place and had some interesting areas of the city. Cuba Street (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba_Street,_Wellington) kind of reminded me a bit of Brighton with a whole host of independent shops and coffee bars.

I found Te Papa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_New_Zealand_Te_Papa_Tongarewa) and decided to spend 45 minutes inside before it closed.

Here's the museum front. (no idea why the photo is washed out so much)

I went on the second level, but could see it was pretty huge so I planned that I would spend Wednesday looking around the rest. After my brief visit I had dinner and then saw a film at Wellington's oldest cinema. After that I went back to my hostel to sleep.

So I decided to spend as much time as needed on Wednesday in the museum. There were loads of exhibits including the only public display of a dead Colossal Squid. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Squid) As well as that there were art exhibitions, displays about Maori including a meeting house, or wharenui.

Inside the wharenui: (no shoes allowed!)

I left for lunch but then came back in to view what I had missed. It was hard to believe the place was free with the exception of a visiting display on the Romans. I left kind of near closing time and decided to walk to the art gallery but there was a massive queue as it was a free exhibition day so I moved that to Thursday. I grabbed dinner and headed back to my hostel.

Thursday morning I left to visit the New Zealand parliament (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Parliament_Buildings) as they did a free tour. The tour was about one hour long and there were no cameras allowed inside but I did take a few photos of the famous beehive building that you can see in the picture below. The statue is Richard John Seddon, the longest serving NZ prime minister.

I then visited the Museum of Wellington City & Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Wellington_City_%26_Sea) which was on the old waterfront. Again it was free and had some interesting displays, particularly involving maritime tragedies. Post museum I visited the City Gallery.

They had an exhibition by Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist obsessed with dots. No photos were allowed inside, but I managed to sneak this one.

That evening I went up the cable car to the botanical gardens as there was a free open air concert taking place.

Sadly the weather turned a bit sour, but I stayed till the end anyway. It was a three piece
Islander acoustic band - Adi Dick and The Children of Tane.

The garden was also lit up by lights which were pretty cool.

So, my last day rolled around and I visited Te Papa again to redo the exhibitions I had glossed over. I had done pretty much all I wanted to in Wellington, so I mooched about until my flight at 4. Oh and I got my haircut too.

Overall, Wellington was a pretty cool city and I think if I was to live somewhere else in NZ it'd probably be there. The city had a decent "feeling" to it which was nice.

Not sure what else I have planned in January, but I'm heading up to Nelson in early February to my housemates bach.

Anyway, I hope the snow is disappearing back home and that everyone is well back home.

Scuba diving photos

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:18:02 GMT

Hi, I finally got my scuba diving photos through!

My feeding of the fish suddenly turned into a shoal!

Pretty cool!

I'm heading to Wellington (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington) on Tuesday to see the city and to visit Te Papa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_New_Zealand_Te_Papa_Tongarewa) I figured I should probably see the capital as I've been here twice and not visited! I'll be back on Friday afternoon so it's only a small trip.

Hope everyone is well in the UK and the snow isn't too bad.

NYE!

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 23:45:24 GMT

So on the 30th I headed up to Waikari (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikari) for camping over NYE. However I found out that morning that my car was broken into overnight - they took a music CD and my travel medical kit but no windows were broken and my stereo was untouched! Quite odd but it was a bit worrying they got in without doing anything to the lock.

We were camping in a paddock next to the landowners house but they were away for the week on their own camping trip so we could use their facilities if needed. When I arrived it was raining fairly hard but I managed to get the tent up without getting too wet and we pretty much spent the evening inside but it stopped raining by the time I went to sleep.

Next morning was far nicer weather wise. Here's the camp:

The owners house:

We went on a walk later that day up a nearby hill to get a view over some of the land.

So NYE we had a large BBQ with lamb, steak, eel (caught nearby) and sausages. Was a pretty good feed and loads to go round. We then played a bit of poker and badminton and did the usual waiting till midnight for the countdown!

2010 hit and we stayed up for a tiny bit longer but then slowly went to bed.

We were also looking after the owner's new kitten.

New Year's day we did some clay shooting as Mike had bought his shotgun and then decided to go out in the afternoon to see if we could get any rabbits. Sadly we didn't have much luck but Mike managed to shoot one fairly early. We then took it back to the house and Mike actually gutted it and we cooked it up in a stew for dinner. We decided to eat that and go out again later in the day and second time around I managed to bag myself a rabbit! I missed my first shot but managed to hit it the second time. Pretty impressed with myself considering it was my first time firing a weapon.

I had left my camera at the camp so no photos, but Dave had bought his phone camera so we might see a photo soonish.

On the 2nd I was planning to leave at noon so we went out one last time to see if we could get Dave a rabbit as he was the only member of our group who hadn't got anything. Sure enough he managed to hit a rabbit fairly early on. We then returned to the camp and used the rest of the ammo on clay shooting again.

We left at noon and got back to Christchurch at around quarter past one. I had a really good few days and it was definitely an experience to go rabbit hunting. Being in a tent with access to a shower and water was really useful and made it more enjoyable as well. I suffered a bit with hayfever but that was expected really.

Anyway, that was my NYE holiday!

Hope everyone is well and that you all had a good few days off.

NYE plans

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:11:25 GMT

Hello, hello.

Just a note to say what I'm doing over NYE and New Year's Day.

A group of us are going camping tomorrow near Waikari (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikari) on a friend of a friends farm land. Should be good as there is a creek for swimming and we'll be doing things like clay and rabbit shooting and generally relaxing.

The area is kind of near Hanmer Springs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanmer_Springs) and you can see the area where we'll be here: http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Hanmer+Springs&sll=-41.244772,172.617188&sspn=25.587205,56.162109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Hanmer+Springs,+Canterbury&ll=-42.897975,172.713833&spn=0.390338,0.877533&z=10

There is a house where we're staying so we'll have a shower available as well as a BBQ.

Sadly we won't have any fireworks as there is complete fire ban in effect as the ground is fairly dry. It's been pretty toasty the last few days so hopefully it'll hold out till the 2nd when we leave.

Anyway, I'll take my camera and do a post when I'm back.

I hope everyone has an awesome New Year's Eve/Day and I'll speak soon.

Merry Christmas!

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 22:13:46 GMT

I think I've said Merry Christmas to everyone, but still!

Here's a photo down my road on Christmas eve:

I'm going camping for New Year's Eve, but I'll do a quick post before I leave detailing that.

Hope everyone is well.

Wine tasting in Waipara

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:06:45 GMT

So, yesterday four friends and I went wine tasting in the Waipara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waipara) region, just north of Christchurch. (http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=waipara&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Waipara,+Canterbury&ll=-43.057851,172.772026&spn=0.097331,0.219383&t=h&z=12) I say four of us, but it was really three as we'd managed to enlist someone to drive!

Dave and I had been meaning to go wine tasting for a while, but Dan (the guy whose 21st I went to last week) was in Christchurch so we had our motivation to go!

The first winery we visited was Pegasus Bay, (http://www.pegasusbay.com/) quite a famous producer. We tried around eight or so wines both red and white - some were really nice including a late picked Riesling called Aria. The lady leading the tasting was quite informed and it was a really nice set up all round.

Just outside the gates:

After Pegasus Bay we tried to visit Fiddler's Green (http://www.fiddlersgreen.co.nz/) but they weren't doing tasting during the week. We then went to Mud House winery (http://www.mudhouse.co.nz/) - quite a big establishment and sadly we had to pay $5 for the taste session, but we tried around a dozen or so nice wines.

We then drove to Torlesse Wines (http://www.torlesse.co.nz/) which was a much smaller vineyard in comparison to the previous two. As Dave and Dan were fans of Port, we decided to visit this one as they stocked a fortified wine - apparently not up to much after tasting! They had some nice wines including one which had blackcurrants added to it.

Sadly the wine muddled my thoughts and I didn't take any photos of the wineries from here on. :(

Post Torlesse Wines, we went to Terrace Edge Vineyard (http://www.terraceedge.co.nz/) which produces both wine and olive oil. This was the smallest tasting session as again it was a smaller place, but as Andy knew the owner we were given a nice portion of samples and were taking on a quick tour of their land. I sampled their olive oil as well which was fairly good.

Sadly, we had to leave for Christchurch at this point as our driver had to go to work. It was a good experience however and I would recommend people to do it. I'm not big on my red wines, but it was useful to taste a variety in one day to see and compare the differences between grapes. I think I would like to go again and sample the places we missed as well as perhaps going for lunch as it felt we were rushed slightly, but it was definitely good fun!

That night I went out for a friend’s birthday at Dux de Lux (http://www.thedux.co.nz/) which was pretty nice but I was fairy wine tired so I didn't try their guest beer.

Anyway, I hope everyone is well - looks like you might be having snow over Christmas?!

Birthday!

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:38:18 GMT

Hey, quick post.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I was in Dunedin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin) over the weekend for another friends 21st birthday so it was nice to be out of town on my actual day. Dunedin was busier than when I last went as it was graduation day for the local university so loads of people were out and about. The 21st was good fun and we stayed at my friends house overnight and then came home on Sunday.

We went for a Thai meal on Monday evening as a birthday thing and then went out for a drinks afterwards which was pretty good fun. Tuesday night some of my friends had baked me a birthday cake (chocolate sponge) so I didn't go without a cake! It feels strange to be 23 - an odd age.

I still haven't been sent my diving photos so I'll get on to them about that.

I'm feeling a bit ill today (cold) but hopefully I'll perk up soon.

Hope everyone is well.

Coromandel times!

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:57:18 GMT

So, I'm back from my trip up north!

Leaving Monday afternoon I landed in sunny Auckland at around fourish, got my hire car then started to drive to Thames (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames,_New_Zealand) to go food shopping and get something to eat.

That done, I drove over to Tairua (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tairua) - this would be where I would be taking my scuba diving lessons. Fairly small place, but it had a local store, a few pubs and that kind of thing.

Tuesday morning I went to the place where I'd be learning to scuba dive and met with Gemma's friend JR (French Canadian) and Tony - the guy who would be teaching me. It was mostly theory stuff that day, learning about pressure, equalizing and all that kind of thing.

View from the dive hut:

I did the theory stuff until mid afternoon then drove to Sailor's Grave beach after.

Wednesday I'd be doing confined diving work - that is, doing the techniques I'd learnt on Tuesday in a pool. As Tony was on a fishing trip in the morning we started in the afternoon. Was quite a weird experience actually breathing underwater for the first time, but I got most of the techniques down fairly easily. I had to undertake safety stuff like alternate air supply ascents and buddy air supply ascents as well.

That all done, I'd be doing a proper dive on Thursday morning.

That evening I went for a drink with JR and one of his friends after he'd finished work.

Thursday morning came, but the weather wasn't too good so we wouldn't be going out properly. We went along the coast to Sailor's Grave and I took my first open water dive! The visibility wasn't too good and there was loads of kelp, but it was a good first experience. However, as the weather wasn't too good by the time I had finished my second dive I was feeling pretty ill. :(

On return, I headed back to my hostel and decided to go to Cathedral Cove (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_Cove) with Katie, the only person in the hostel I was staying at!

It was a 30 or so minute drive and then a 40 minute walk to Cathedral Cove, but it was worth it.

That evening I again went for a drink with JR.

Friday morning was the day of my dive off the Alderman Islands! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alderman_Islands or http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=alderman+islands+&sll=-41.244772,172.617188&sspn=25.587205,56.162109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Alderman+Islands&ll=-36.966667,176.083333&spn=0.212864,0.438766&z=11)

The weather was pretty good and the water reasonably warm so we left at about 10ish and I'd be doing an additional two dives which would give me my open water qualification. My first dive was awesome, loads of fish and I saw a couple of eels. Tony was hunting crayfish and managed to catch a fairly large one which was pretty cool. Again I had to do a few techniques for my qualification including an alternate air supply ascent. However, upon preparing for this on the bottom, I actually ran out of air and had to do an emergency ascent for real! Each diver has two regulators, (mouth pieces basically) one for himself and the other for emergencies such as this. I came out safely, but it was an experience.

Second dive was fairly good as well, although there weren't as many fish but it was still fun. Upon coming back I had to finish up the paperwork for my qualification but once that was done myself, Tony and JR headed out again as they wanted to go snorkeling for mussels and other seafood.

Once they had grabbed some, we went back and had a large BBQ with everything they had caught. Was pretty good and fresh.

Saturday was the day I was leaving Tairua and I stopped in to say goodbye to Tony and JR and went up to Mt Paku - an old volcano that overlooked the town.

I went to various beaches in the area such as Hot Water Beach and others but upon leaving I drove the 309 road across to Coromandel Town (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coromandel,_New_Zealand) which was an unsealed road right through the bush. Coromandel Town was pretty small with a few shops and I didn't stay there long. My hostel was okay, but it was mostly couples and groups with no solo travelers. It was a nice location and only one minute from the beach which was pretty good.

Here's a fastforwarded video of me driving from Coromandel Town to Matarangi Beach.

Sunday was my beach touring day and I drove to pretty much every beach near me.

I was originally going to stay in Kuaotuna for three nights, but it wasn't that great so I left Monday morning and decided to stay a night in Thames before my flight. I did however stop at Gemma's favourite beach - New Chums Beach.

Really, really nice beach! Was deserted and the bush coming right down to the sand was pretty cool. I stayed there for a while and eventually left to drive back to Thames. I arrived at Thames late afternoon and went to see Jen (Gemma's friend) but she wasn't in so I went into Kauaeranga Valley to have a look round there. Some nice bush and I did a couple of walks and went into the visitor centre.

I then got a hostel for the night and on the day of my flight (Tuesday) I decided to do the touristy thing and visit Paeroa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paeroa) for a photo of the L&P bottle. I did however manage to see Jen in the morning to say hi.

Upon leaving Paeroa I went around the local area and visited Waihi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waihi) - a gold mining town.

That all done I began my slow drive back to Auckland Airport for my flight at 16:40.

Sadly I haven't had my scuba diving photos back from the dive place but once I have I'll update this!

This was a really good trip and I'm pretty glad I went. Happy Gemma managed to persuade me to go!

I'm heading to Dunedin this weekend for a friends birthday and consquently mine, so it should be a good few days.

So...

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:41:34 GMT

I didn't get the job which is disappointing, but it's also made me think about what else I want to do whilst I'm here and other long term ideas.

That said, I'm heading up to the Coromandel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coromandel_Peninsula) this Monday and I'll be getting back on the 1st of December. I'm planning to do a open water scuba diving course in Tairua (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tairua) where one of Gemma's friends is a teacher. I'll be flying up as it's a better choice in terms of time saved in comparsion with driving up from here.

Anyway, not much to write home about really, next time I post I'll hopefully have a diving qualification!

Hope everyone is well.

Apologies for the lack of updates

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:35:51 GMT

Hey, sorry for the lack of updates but I haven't really been doing much "proper" travelling as of late.

I had an interview for a job on Tuesday so I should hear back from that on Monday, I won't say that much as there’s no real assurance that I'll get it, but they did seem fairly keen.

If I don't get it I'll probably go down south for a few days, probably Queenstown http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queenstown,_New_Zealand before the massive tourist season starts proper. Christchurch wise, I've been doing the usual really, few BBQs and generally going out and about with friends.

I did visit a real ale pub/bar called the Twisted Hop last night so Dad might be interested in that. (http://www.thetwistedhop.co.nz/) Did a quite nice India Pale Ale as well as a few dark beers - we were out celebrating Dave's last gig at his music college so it was quite nice to drink something other than lager.

It's been Cup and Show Week in Christchurch (http://www.nzcupandshow.co.nz/) so it's been fairly busy in town and today (Friday) was a regional holiday for Canterbury so most people are having long weekends. (And hence why I won't hear about the job till Monday)

Anyway, again apologies for the poor update but I'll probably write again fairly soon with a more detailed account of what I'm going to do!

Hope you're all well.

BBQs and gigs

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:00:47 GMT

Not a very productive week in terms of trips out/work although I did go to four BBQs in seven days!

I've been applying for loads of jobs but not really having a lot of luck. :( I sent four/five applications last week to places that needed Christmas temps so maybe I'll hit something there.

I went to two BBQs earlier in the week, one of those being a house warming for two friends and the other being a get together. Upon buying beer for one of those, Countdown (supermarket) refused to serve me and my housemates because the only ID I was carrying was my UK driving licence. We went next door and got some at another shop, but I decided to get a Kiwi driving licence as I didn't fancy bringing my passport whenever I went out. Cost about $40 and the only test I had to take was a short eye exam. Should have it in a few days.

We then went to another BBQ at the university of one of my housemates. Quite fun and played cricket and then on Friday night I went to yet another BBQ at a friends house and from there to a gig that Dave's band were playing. They were playing at a pub called the Fox & Ferret and had been designed in such a way that tried to emulate an English pub. Kind of successful, but kind of not. (http://www.foxandferret.co.nz/)

Saturday evening we went to a church quiz night fundraiser which was good fun. They had flown one of Aucklands best quizmasters down to Christchurch specifically for the night. Roughly 100 or so people took part so it was a good night for the youth charity. Post quiz myself and Dave went to another gig in the centre of town. The All Blacks/Australia game was on as well (All Blacks won, wahey) so it was a fairly decent night all-round.

The weather has been pretty nice of late but occasionally it lapses into showers. Here's a photo of Sumner beach today. (We went for ice cream)

And here’s a photo of a kite surfer on the same day.

Hope everyone is well, speak soon.

Kaikoura, Picton, Nelson and Reefton

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:17:20 GMT

Hello, I was going to write this yesterday but I wasn't in the mood so here goes!

Monday morning I left for Kaikoura. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaikoura) I had whale watching booked for just after one so I made it in good time and took a photo of the town.

Upon reaching the whale watching station it became apparent the trip had been cancelled, as had an earlier trip and the one after mine. I rearranged it for Tuesday morning.

With the whale watching cancelled I went to look for seals at the end of the town. I managed to see three but the photos I took didn't come out very well as the seals tend to blend right into the rocks. Post seal watching I walked up and along the coast from the south side of Kaikoura and wandered along to about the mid way point to where I had been to see the seals.

The hostel I was in was okay and it seemed to be full of people attempting to do either dolphin swimming or whale watching but having little luck. A few people had been there for three days and had been turned away each time.

Morning came around and I tried again but it was cancelled. Apparently the first trip went out but then the sea turned and it just wasn't possible. I got a full refund and headed to Picton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picton,_New_Zealand) via Blenheim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim,_New_Zealand). Blenheim is a wine making area but the actual town is horrible. I mean really REALLY horrible. Spent about five minutes there and promptly left for Picton.

Picton is the main port to get to the North Island and I decided to drive to the north east to get a view over the Queen Charlotte Sound. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Charlotte_Sound,_New_Zealand)

At this point I kind of kept going and the road turned to unsealed and I ended up in a tree felling area, complete with huge trucks.

I then headed back and had a wander round Picton. I went into the small whaling museum then headed to my hostel. Only three other people were booked in - two Irish and a Korean girl. The whole town seemed quite quiet but it was a really nice area.

Wednesday I visited the Edwin Fox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Fox) - the only surviving ship that brought convicts from the UK to Australia.

It was pretty well preserved and had some interesting exhibits. I also went to the local aquarium which had a preserved giant squid. Quite cool.

After lunch I left for Nelson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_New_Zealand) and the Marlborough Sounds proper. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlborough_Sounds) I drove right along the Kenupuru Sound (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenepuru_Sound) and stopped at some of the bays along the way. This was the aptly named Sandy Bay complete with tyre swing and crazy coloured chairs.

I drove right around till the road turned to unsealed again and came back. I hadn't quite realized how far I'd come and how long it would take to get to Nelson but I arrived at my hostel (The Green Monkey) at about five. The hostel was really small (12 or so beds) and kind of felt more like a home than the previous hostels. The people staying were pretty cool and some had been there three or more weeks whilst they looked for work.

In the evening six of us went to the pub quiz across the road and came a respectable second out of eight or so teams.

Thursday came and I and a French guy decided to wander round Nelson to see if there was anything of interest. The cathedral was fairly nice and we visited South Street - the oldest preserved street in New Zealand. (http://www.historic.org.nz/magazinefeatures/2003spring/2003_spring_c.htmhttp://www.historic.org.nz/magazinefeatures/2003spring/2003_spring_c.htm)

After lunch I left Nelson and begun my drive to Reefton. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefton)

I picked up two hitchhikers on the way, a Swiss guy heading to the coast and a Scottish lady who was going to Murchison. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murchison,_New_Zealand) The Swiss wasn't that talkative but the Scottish lady was building a house just over Murchison with her husband. After we dropped her off we stayed for a drink and had a look round where she was living. They were only in temporary accommodation (no electricity) whilst they built the house but they were beekeepers for income in the meantime.

Reefton was a small town and the first place in NZ to get electricity. The hostel was small but the owner was a keen fisherman and said he'd moved there primarily for the trout. There were a couple of Americans from Montana staying as well and they were cool to chat to.

I didn't really do much in Reefton, but I had a quick look round and headed back to Christchurch. There was an accident on the main road so whilst I waited it to be cleared I spoke to four miners for a while who were heading to Kaikoura and Christchurch for Labour Day.

Once that was cleared I drove home, stopping a few times on the way for photos.

Overall, quite a fun trip. I'd definitely go to Nelson again and I'd like to spend more time in Reefton to do some of the walks. I might go back to Kaikoura to do whale watching or dolphin swimming but that may have to wait.

No video this time as my camera battery was pretty low! As a note, I did 1230km or 764 miles in five days.

Hope everyone is well back home.

Trip up north

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 06:31:03 GMT

Hi

Just a quick note to say from Monday to Friday I'll be in the north of South Island.

Monday: Kaikoura (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaikoura)
Tuesday: Picton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picton,_New_Zealand)
Wednesday: Nelson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson,_New_Zealand)
Thurday: Reefton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefton)
Friday: Back to Christchurch

Got a few things planned. I'm going whale watching Kaikoura and then going to explore some of the sounds around Picton. Nelson should be interesting and Reefton is more of a stop off so I don't have to drive five hours plus back to Christchurch.

Speak soon.

Poor weather!

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:32:28 GMT

As the title suggests, the weather has been pretty naff of late. The week commencing my return from Dunedin was pretty wet all week so I didn't do a great deal.

The weekend brightened up and on Sunday I went to my housemate Dave's baptism at the church he goes to. Post Baptism we went to Dux De Lux (http://www.thedux.co.nz/) for drinks. Had Ginger Tom - a nice locally brewed ginger beer in the sun.

We then had people round ours for a BBQ and late night poker.

Monday was actually nice again so I decided to drive right round the bay to Diamond Harbour. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Harbour,_New_Zealand) Last time I visited with Andy using the boat across the bay but I thought the drive round would be quite nice.

Driving through Diamond harbour I went onto Port Levy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Levy) on a fairly narrow hill road. View from the top was quite nice as my startled expression tells.

View driving down:

I wasn't really expecting much from Port Levy as it’s quite small. I drove on to Purai (http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=diamond+harbour&sll=-41.244772,172.617188&sspn=25.587205,56.162109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Diamond+Harbour&ll=-43.648373,172.838974&spn=0.048194,0.109692&z=13) but sadly the road to Pigeon Bay was closed.

Again, Purai was very small so I only stayed to take in the scenery.

I drove back and past Diamond Harbour I cut through Gebbies Valley so I wouldn't be driving the same route again.

This took me right round to the south/east side of the city.

Good little road trip then, but I'm hoping the weather will pick up. It's currently grey.

Hope everyone is well.

Driving down to Dunedin!

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:56:08 GMT

On Saturday morning Dave, Mike and I headed down to Dunedin. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin) The drive was roughly four and a half hours in Dave's early 80s van but it was a fairly nice day and good for travelling.

We passed through Rakaia which had a large salmon statue. (?!)

Arriving at Dunedin at around 4ish we had a walk round the city. On an architectural level the city is completely different to Christchurch with older buildings dotted around the centre and seemingly a church on every corner! The weather had turned a bit grey by then so I didn't take many photos. Around 6.30ish we went to a bar to watch the Cameron/Tua boxing match which had been hailed as "The Fight of the Century". It ended 30 seconds into the second round with Cameron being KO'd. Oh well.

That evening I stayed in an YHA hostel as Dave's van could really only fit two people and I didn't have a sleeping bag.

The hostel was vastly different to the others I'd stayed in and was pretty busy as apparently nearly every bed was taken.

The next morning we went to visit Dave's friend in Dunedin. Dan took us to see Baldwin Street (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_street) - arguably the steepest street in the world and it is approximately 1:2.86 (19° or 35%). Anyway, we took on the challenge and in Dave's van holding four grown guys we made it up!

And down again...

After the near death experience of trying to make it up we visited the Aramoana spit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramoana), just to the north of the peninsula with the yellow penguins that I visited in 2007.

Post spit we went to a pub and played pool for the rest of the afternoon before going back to Dan's for the evening.

We left Monday morning rather than Tuesday as Mike had to go to university on Tuesday morning. We left around three ish and then stopped at the Moeraki Boulders (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_boulders) on the way back. Quite interesting as the boulders are fairly spherical and large in comparsion to the rest of the sandy beach.

Here's me making a silly pose in front of some of them.

We then drove pretty much straight home.

It was a pretty good trip but I think I'd like to go again in better weather to take more pictures of the city and see more of the surrounding area.

Today (Wednesday) I took a video of a drive between Corsair Bay and Taylor's Mistake. The route went from Corsair Bay to Cass Bay over to Rapaki to Governors Bay over Dyers Pass Road to Summit Road, down to Sumner and then to Taylors Mistake.

At roughly 2:52 I pass under the Christchurch Gondola.

Enjoy it!

Anyway, that's me signing off for now, hope everyone is well.

Along the coast by Lyttelton

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:08:46 GMT

I haven’t really been up to much this week as the weather has been pretty crumby. Tuesday/Wednesday it was grey and rainy all day but by Thursday it was looking it a bit better for this weekend.

My car licence (basically road tax) was paid yesterday and it didn’t go quite as smoothly as I’d hoped. I went to the Post Shop to get a six month licence and got to the front of the queue to pay and they don’t accept credit cards. I then tried to use my new NZ bank card but it didn’t quite have enough. The lady then suggests I go home and do it on the internet. I trot home, go through all the details and then try and put my driving licence number in – they don’t accept UK details. So I go back, resort to withdrawing cash on a credit card (again!) and pay for it that way.

Fun stuff.

Anyway, it’s been really sunny today so I went on a drive to the coast just west of Lyttelton. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyttelton,_New_Zealand) I’d seen some of the coast when I visited before but I fancied going a bit further this time.

I visited Corsair Bay first and there were a few families about. (School holidays and all)

Moving on I drove along the coast past Cass Bay, Rapaki and finally Governor Bay. (http://maps.google.co.nz/maps/mpl?ie=UTF8&moduleurl=http:%2F%2Fmaps.google.co.nz%2Fintl%2Fen_nz%2Fhelp%2Fmaps%2Fholidays%2Fmapplet.html&mapclient=google&ll=-43.606499,172.683277&spn=0.048228,0.109692&z=13) The road seemed to be mostly cyclists and motorcyclists but was fairly clear. The views were pretty nice across the bay too.

Governor Bay had a long jetty.

I cut inland and decided to drive the first part of Dyers Pass Road and then cut in to tackle the Scenic Road which would get to me to Sumner. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumner,_New_Zealand) Just before I drove onto Scenic Road I stopped at Sign of the Kiwi, a small shop servicing the walks around the reserve. (http://www.ccc.govt.nz/Parks/NaturalAreas/port_hills_recreation_signofthekiwi.asp)

View from Sign of the Kiwi:

The Scenic Road was fantastic. It was quite windy but had some awesome views, both looking over the coast and over Christchurch.

Coastal view:

Christchurch view:

A little road trip then. I think I’m going to go back and do another fast forwarded video from Corsair Bay over the Scenic Road so I’ll do that fairly soon. (when its sunny again)

As I wrote in my last post I’m heading to Dunedin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin) from tomorrow morning to Tuesday morning so I’ll write something up when I’m back. It should be a good few days as I’m going with two of my housemates.

Speak soon!

Trip to Lake Tekapo, Wanaka and Twizel

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:29:40 GMT

Hello, I've just managed to upload my pictures so I thought I'd write a new blog post about my trip down to Wanaka. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanaka)

Friday lunchtime I left to spend the night in Lake Tekapo. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekapo) The drive from Christchurch was around three and a half hours and it pretty much rained the entire way which didn't really inspire me with confidence that the next few days would be enjoyable.

However as soon as I hit Lake Tekapo the rain stopped and I went to the thermal springs that were nearby. Sadly they weren't nearly as good as their Hanmer Spring counterparts. The hostel I was staying in was an YHA (http://www.yha.co.nz/default) and only $24 for the night. I met a few people there including an English guy from Birmingham who I then went out for a few drinks with.

I left Tekapo hideously early in the morning to get to Wanaka for 9:30. I had booked a horse trek as it was something I had never done before and it was a bit different from the usual things to do in the area.

Fantastically the weather had cleared up by this time and I was greeted by perfect blue skies.

Here's Lake Wanaka. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_wanaka)

And here’s me looking slightly awkward on a horse. The trek was quite good and I think I got into it after a while. Was really nice to see the backcountry without a car. The guide was pretty good as well but my horse was a bit lazy sometimes!

Post horse trek (2hrs or so) I drove out of Wanaka to Makaroa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makarora) which kind of sits between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Hawea) Only being a small settlement there wasn't a great deal there but I did wander off the beaten track and found a small bush walk.

Lake Hawea was a nice shade of blue and had the hills reflecting off the surface.

I got back to the hostel at about five and met two Belgians, a German and another British guy. They had been travelling about separately but kept meeting up in the same places. We ate dinner together and then chatted the rest of the night.

The clocks went forward on Sunday morning so I reminded myself to get up earlier. I hadn't had a great deal planned for Sunday so I went to Puzzling World on the outskirts of Wanaka. Sadly it was quite busy with young kids and coach tours (Kiwi Experience et al) so I didn't really enjoy it. It was quite small anyway and I didn't spend much time there at all. (http://www.puzzlingworld.co.nz/) There was however a leaning tower of Wanaka!

My next stop was in Twizel, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twizel) a town built in the late 60s to house the workers of a nearby hydroelectric station. There wasn't really much to do save go to Mt Cook (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt_Cook) which I had done with Gemma or do a Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King tour. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings:_The_Return_of_the_King) I opted for the latter and it was fairly interesting as it was the site for the main battle sequence in the movie.

There was an opportunity to don the gear of some of the characters so I obliged.

After the tour I went back to the hostel. The actual place was clean and tidy but hadn't seemed to have changed decor since the 1970s. There were only three of us in the entire place (myself, a Dane and Pole) so Pole and I went out for a drink in the only open bar in the town. The weather by this point had been completely overcome by cloud cover.

The beds in the hostel were fairly uncomfortable with thin mattresses and horribly squeaking beds. Despite having a room to myself (unlike the other two nights) I think I found it hardest to get to sleep when every movement you made seemed to echo down the hall.

I woke up fairly early and decided to drive straight home with a stop off for lunch at Lake Tekapo.

As I approached Christchurch it started raining again and sadly this continued for the rest of the day.

I took another video of me driving, this time on Route 8 between Wanaka and Omarama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omarama) between the Lindis Pass. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindis_Pass) There was a bit of traffic on the road but it was still a nice drive. Just as a mark of note, I did 1125km/700 miles! Crazy.

I've got a few errands to do this week but I'm heading to Dunedin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin) on Saturday and getting back on Tuesday.

Speak soon and don't forget I'm 12 hours ahead now, rather than 11!

A brief post

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:44:10 GMT

Hi, just a quick update.

I've done a few small things this week but sadly the weather has been very off and on with heavy showers popping up when you least expect it.

I visited Canterbury Museum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canterbury_Museum_%28New_Zealand%29) and the Botanic Gardens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_Botanic_Gardens) this week. I'd been to both before in 2007 but some of the exhibitions in the museum have changed since. I didn't take a great deal of photos inside but here are some stuffed Kiwis on display.

After the museum I decided to cut through the gardens to get back to the car. Just as I was walking through the heavens opened so I dived into one of the tropical greenhouses which harboured a rainforest. (ironic eh?)

The greenhouse led onto other houses which boasted a flowering plant room, a cactus room and a carnivorous plant area as well. I had completely forgotten about the greenhouses so it was a nice surprise to refind them. I also went into the fern house which was just around the corner from the photo below.

Leaving the greenhouses I walked back along the Avon to head for home.

Last night we went to the West Coast Bar and they had a few West Coast brewed beers on. (http://www.westcoastbrewing.com/?act=beer&c=range&p=westcoast) I only tried the Lager and the Gold beer but I think I'll go back and sample the others. :)

Today I've been planning a road trip down to Wanaka. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanaka) I'm leaving tomorrow after an early lunch and I'm heading for Tekapo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekapo) to spend a night there then on Saturday I'm driving to Wanaka and staying a night. Sunday I'll be driving back and I have a bed in Twizel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twizel) before heading home on Monday. Oddly I think I'm staying in the same hostel as Gemma used in Twizel. Of course, there might only be one hostel in town. :)

It's quite cold today but I'm hoping it will be warmer this weekend.

A bit of culture and Hanmer Springs

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:46:23 GMT

Been a quiet few days for me really!

I went to Christchurch Art Gallery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_Art_Gallery_Te_Puna_o_Waiwhetu) on Thursday to have a look around as there were a couple of good exhibitions on. It wasn't just fine art but some modern (and odd) works on display. About a third of their collection was closed off for redecoration so I'll have to go back in a month or two.

Sadly you weren't allowed take any photos inside but here’s a photo I found of the outside.

Thursday evening the house went to Dave's Dad's house for dinner. Quite a good evening with the wine and beer flowing.

Saturday I decided to visit Hanmer Springs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanmer_Springs) The springs are about 1.5 hours north of Christchurch. Was rather a spur of the moment decision to go but I wasn't doing anything else that day so why not? On the drive up I skirted the Hurunui River and saw a couple of tourist speedboat trips.

Hanmer itself was quite busy with tourists and camper vans and I arrived fairly late in the day (around 1.30ish) and after a quick wander round the town I decided to visit the main attraction - the thermal springs. (http://www.hanmersprings.co.nz/)

It cost $14 for an adult to get in (without towel hire) and there were about 10 pools in the complex. There were two "normal" swimming pools, one with water slides (which you needed to fork out extra for) and the rest were pools formed from springs and their temperatures ranged from between 34 and 41 degrees.

The water slides:

I spent over an hour at springs before my toes and fingers went funny. Hanmer seemed quite expensive to me but I suppose as a tourist town that's what happens. There were quite a few sports available as well including quad biking, horse riding, mountain biking, bungee jumping and speed boating on the river. I think I left it a little late in the day to really do anything so I grabbed a late lunch and left. A return to Hanmer would be good, but I'd definitely leave earlier and take some friends, rather than going alone. The region has quite a few vineyards with tasters so that would be deserved of a return as well.

On the way back I stopped at Waikuku beach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikuku) which was a sandy surfing beach. No surfers were there but a couple were trying to fly a kite but not being that successful!

After getting home I grabbed dinner and went to watch the rugby between New Zealand and Australia. The All Blacks came out on top winning 33 to 6 and taking home the Bledisloe Cup. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bledisloe_Cup)

I also took another video, this time from Balmoral Reserve (near Culverden) to Hanmer Springs.

Enjoy!

West Coast trip!

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:29:02 GMT

So, with my car WOF approved I was ready to head to the West Coast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Coast,_New_Zealand) for a few days. I decided to buy a stereo unit for the car so we had music for the 3.5 hour trip and I managed to get it installed whilst I waited for Dave and Mike to get home from a music tour and Palmerston North (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmerston_North) respectively.

We left a bit later than expected and it had already been dark for an hour when we left Christchurch. Not much to say about the journey as we couldn't really see much outside but we arrived at Mike's Mum's house at about 11 and then went pretty much straight to bed.

Monday morning Mike (as a West Coaster) had a few things he wanted to show us so we headed out to Punakaiki. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punakaiki) Punakaiki is an eroded coastal area where the limestone erosion has allowed blowholes to be created where at high tide the sheer force of the waves pushes up huge explosions of water. Sadly we were there too late to see any action but we did see the pancake rock formations.

The erosion had also created almost enclosed pools.

Leaving Punakaiki we dropped in at Mike's Grandad’s house to say hi and then entered the bush to see some waterfalls. It was quite a short walk in (30min) to see them and the actual falls were fairly nice.

We then walked back and headed into Greymouth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greymouth) for lunch. Wandering on the beach we had a look for Greenstone or Pounamu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pounamu) and sadly we didn't find any but we then headed back to the house for dinner.

Tuesday morning we drove down the coast to Hokitika (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokitika,_New_Zealand) to look round the town and try again for some Greenstone. Mike managed to find two pieces this time and I wasn't majorly fussed as John (Mike's stepdad and a prominent jade carver in the area) had given Dave and me a piece the previous night.

We grabbed lunch in Hokitika and decided to head back in the light so we'd be able to see the Southern Alps and specifically the Otira Viaduct. (http://www.apoec.org.nz/viaduct.htm) Built just under a decade ago the viaduct effectively made route 73 far safer to travel during the winter months. Rather than relying on a mountain road which was regularly subject to landslides the NZ government gave the go ahead for the $25million project. We had missed the view on Sunday night so I managed to grab a few pictures on the way back.

The actual Viaduct:

A good couple of days! On the way back I decided to video the journey between and Otira and Lake Pearson by using my camera taped to the dash of the car and then speeding the video up.

Watch the result below! (it has music as well)

Hope you enjoy it. :)

Lyttelton and rugby

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:09:03 GMT

I thought I'd do a post before I went to the West coast for a few days otherwise I'd probably bore you with a huge write-up when I got back.

On Friday I managed to get my car back and WOF approved which was a weight off my mind. As no one was about in the house I decided to wash my car inside and out so that consumed what was left of daylight really. As Dave and Mike are away till today (Sunday) it's been a bit quiet.

Saturday rolled around and Andy and I decided to go to Lyttelton. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyttelton,_New_Zealand) It's less than 15km from Christchurch but it's supposed to have some nice bays. Lyttelton serves as the main port for Christchurch so the actual quayside wasn't that great but the city is built on the hills surrounding the port. Please excuse my finger in the picture. :(

We decided to get the foot ferry across to Diamond Harbour. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Harbour,_New_Zealand) The journey was less than 10 minutes out and we wandered round the beach upon landing. Saw a starfish too. The water was a strange emerald shade and it kind of comes out in the picture.

From Diamond Harbour you could also see Godley Head. (where the WW2 fortifications that I visited were) Out of camera view and just round the corner is an artificial island where a gun was located.

We then headed back on the ferry and drove back to Christchurch. On a spur of the moment decision we decided to go to the rugby game between Canterbury and Otago for the Ranfurly shield. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranfurly_Shield) Unlike the FA Cup the shield is held like a boxing belt where teams can challenge the holder for the title providing the holder is playing at home. This was Canterbury's first defence of the shield since beating Wellington last month.

You can just see the shield being held by the mascot in the photo above. I'd never been to a rugby game before but it was slightly different to a football game. Firstly home and away fans were mixed and there didn't really seem to much singing/chanting with the exception of the odd "CANNNNNNNNTERBURY" shout. There was a brass band playing the odd song but it was quite different to what I think I expected.

In the picture below you can see the other stand still being built and it's planned to be finished by January 2010 and will be used in the 2011 rugby world cup.

In the end Canterbury won 36:16. Post match the All Blacks were playing South Africa at 7:30 and Dave's mother had invited us to watch the game at hers so we obliged. National team rugby games seem to only be on Sky Sports which makes me feel quite lucky we at least get the home England games on terrestrial TV. I found it a bit odd that domestic games were planned so close to internationals as well.

Sadly the result wasn't as good as earlier and NZ lost 32 to 29 meaning SA won the Tri-Nations.

Anyway, next post will be in a few days.