Christchurch is probably the only place we've been so far in New Zealand where we could possibly contemplating living. And even that would be a bit of a stretch.

Yes, the scenery is wonderful pretty much everywhere and the people are uniformly nice, but there's a distinct lack of liveliness. Christchurch, however, manages to combine an energetic feel with a city-style café culture and the physical elegance of being set around a small river where punts carry tourists up and down.

We spent a lot of time in Christchurch shopping, believe it or not. Not just mundane items like trainer socks for me, but Katy needed some shoes for her Dad and Jan's wedding. I didn't relish the prospect, as she's not the easiest person when it comes to buying fancy items of clothing.

We located an outlet mall over the other side of the city and in only the second store, Katy bought a pair! This was wondeful! Not unheard of, given that we bought our own wedding outfits in about five hours, but still a major accomplishment.

The sales assistant turned out to be from Redcar. 'Oh, we know someone from Redcar,' we said half in jest. 'Do you know someone called Yvonne Birkbeck or the Birckbeck electrical shop?' Not only did she know the shop and had bought items there, she'd met Yvonne a couple of times, though many years ago. Small world.

What else did we do? We went round the museum for a dose of culture - some quite good exhibits on early Maori, of course, plus an interesting hall devoted to Scott and the other Antarctic explorers.

We also took advantage of the greater range of restaurants and bars that Christchurch has compared to everywhere except Auckland. We spent an evening in a pub called Dux de Lux, which had been recommended by a couple we met on our wine-tasting tour. The beer was excellent - the product of their own micro-brewery - and served at the correct temperature. This is an important point if you come to NZ, because most bars serve even bitters at near-freezing, which just kills all taste stone dead.The food was ok though not up to that standard, but the pub as a whole was lively and (gasp!) still open when we left at about 9.30.

We're only meant to push the boat out once a week on our budget, but we made an exception because there were lots of good places in Christchurch to choose from. (We're not hopeful of anything out of the ordinary until we get to Queenstown just before Xmas.)

So we went to the Belgian Beer Café Torenhof and drank draught Leffe, which was like nectar - and again not too cold. I had a kilo of mussels and unfortunately appeared to suffer a reaction to them. I woke up with a rash on both arms and the back of my neck. A couple of days later it was getting better but still a bit itchy.

On the downside, Christchurch has some of the worst school uniforms in the whole country, if not the entire world. Think of British uniforms in the 1960s or 70s and that's what they are like.

The worst of the boys' attire featured knee-length socks with shorts. Shorts with knee socks!!! Yes, we know it can get quite hot in the height of summer, but how cruel is it to send your lanking great teenage son out in public dressed like that?

Probably about as cruel as the parents who sent their daughters to school in a rust-coloured jumper over a green gingham checked dress. This appalling combination was set off by the sort of brown leather sandals with a single side buckle that not only Katy remembers wearing, but so do I. Is New Zealand in some kind of a time warp?

If so, there are some good sides to living in the past. Take the bus drivers, for example. When they get on their bus at the start of a trip, they say hello to the passengers - and the passengers say hello back! It was like a little club.

On the other hand some things are, if not unique to New Zealand, then perhaps unique to Australasia. Where else would you see homeless people getting a free meal - not in a church hall or a hostel, but from a barbecue set up in the city's main square?

'Put another prawn on the barbie, mate, the economy's down the tube.'

Richard