The trip down to Wellington had been through pretty good weather so we were really disappointed in the morning to barely be able to see across the road because of the cloud and rain! Our crossing on "one of the most beautiful ferry rides in the world" turned out to be an uncomfortable, crammed Christmas Eve ferry sitting on the floor trying to get views - but failing! We had allowed a lot of time that we thought we didn't need to get to the bus stop but after waiting on the ferry in Picton for most of and hour before being allowed to disembark and our bags coming out pretty much last from baggage reclaim, we resorted to Arwa begging the bus driver to wait for us whilst I watched the conveyor belt. It seemed we needn't have worried as other people were a lot later than us! After a pretty pain free journey to Nelson, we grabbed a taxi from the bus depot to our flat at the Sands apartments in Tahunanui. The apartment was beautiful, it looked like a show home and was so fresh and clean looking we didn't want to step on the carpet or put anything down! That soon changed as we settled in and enjoyed not having to live out of our rucksacks for a few days! We were quite out of town so we caught another taxi to Stoke and went to a proper supermarket to buy food for Christmas. It was quite hard as Kim wasn't arriving until late and we had to decided between us what to get without consulting her. I didn't want to ruin her christmas by getting the wrong food! We got a bit carried away with the shopping and bought enough to feed an army, but we didn't want to miss anything out... I probably should add that although it felt right to get them at the time i did throw out over half a packet of half melted/squashed after dinner mints at Christchurch airport 2 weeks later! In the afternoon we got a delivery which was very exciting since we didn't even even know the address of where we were staying until a few hours earlier! Sarah, on the other hand, had done a lot of detective work and managed to organise for a local chocolatier to deliver some chocolates to our door! amazing! I had text Peter to help me find churches for midnight mass and he sent me two possibilities, but after over an hour trudging round Nelson, not finding any and speaking to random nuns on the phone I gave up! Instead we waited for Kim to arrive then sat in with a glass of wine, and did some minimalist christmas decorating before watching a film and going to bed - the most relaxed Christmas eve I've ever had!

Christmas day was a very chilled out day, involving a lot of eating and drinking wine! We had a leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs on toasted muffins with bucks fizz, then after opening our presents, went for a long walk down the beach. It was pretty sunny, an improvement on yesterday, but not too warm, so paddling was our limit! When we got back we cooked an immense Christmas dinner - which it took us several hours to recover from while watching "the Holiday" - and then went for another shorter walk. The evening panned out pretty much like normal Christmas with a lot of lounging around and watching films on TV, wine in hand!

Boxing day was also pretty chilled, we had a lazy morning and another enormous lunch, before walking into Nelson and up the hill to the centre of NZ - apparently. It seems in a very convenient location! We also managed to find a hire car that was available from tomorrow - it seems the only one left in the town! - and then headed back to our flat for yet more food and relaxing! The next day I packed up pretty early and caught a cab into town for my 9am skype date with home which was pretty successful - apart from it not allowing 3 way video link up! Kim and Arwa arrived a bit later and we went to the markets which happen every saturday. After this Kim dropped us at our hire car place and headed south, and we drove up to Moteuka near the Abel Tasman National Park, to the Laughing Kiwi hostel. This was another great place to stay with a nice atmosphere and a great living room area and board games etc. We spent the evening doing a very frustrating jigsaw, by the end of which our eyes had gone funny! The next day we went out to Kaiteriteri and joined our kayak group. We were kitted out and put in a double kayak before heading out towards the split apple rock. I've done lots of kayaking before, and lots of steering of rowing boats, but never had a foot controlled kayak rudder before, it took some getting used to! We were with a couple of german girls and two japanese women, who refused to go in a straight line, or paddle in time! so we were able to go pretty much at our own speed and weren't rushed! When we got to the beach by the rock, we pulled our kayaks up onto the sand, and Hannah - the instructor - and I swam out to look at the rock. No one else wanted to... It was freezing! Once back we jumped back in the boat, the german girls being split up and each put with a japanese women to balance out the crews, which greatly sped up the paddling! - and headed back to our starting point. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was pretty amazing too! After some yummy cookies and juice we headed back to Moteuka, stopping at the market on the way, in order for me to buy some more unncessary items (large pottery, breakable -but beautiful- kiwi bowl) to carry round with me! After a quick lunch - still eating Christmas leftovers - we jumped back in the car and headed up further in to the national park, on the recommendation of a scottish lady in our dorm. After a fairly long drive up an very windy, hilly road, we got to the top of the hill and followed a track to a lookout which was incredible. You could see right over the hills and back to the sea, as well as down into the valley below. There were some interesting birds having a conversation right across the valley that echoed all around. Not really having a plan after this we drove further along the road and came to some caves which we decided to visit since we were there! We had a tour through the whole cave system and the lady guiding us told us intersting facts about stalagtite and stalagmite formation. We also saw some moa remains - from where they used to fall into the caves and not get out - which was sad. The caves finished up with a whole section where people had written their names on the walls, including the first man to go into them back in teh day when it was by candle light! spooky... my favourite part of the caves was the baby stalagmite - it was only 300 years old and about an inch tall!
The next day we set off down to Christchurch - our first long drive in our car. Driving in New Zealand is hilarious - apart from the entire country being made up of single carriage roads and one lane bridges, they have strange rules about right of way when turning and parking and you can't drive 100m without driving over a dead possum. Possums, we had learned, out number humans in NZ by 20:1. Thats 10 times more than sheep! There are about 80 million possums in the country, who keep on thriving as they have no predators! Its a bit of a disaster - one of many caused by introduced species in this part of the world! We drove down the scenic mountain route to Christchurch, over the Lewis Pass. It was absolutely incredible, if a bit scary on the windy bends! It took a pretty long time so we were glad to arrive at our Jailhouse hostel and get out of the car. The hostel is literally a converted jailhouse, and is pretty nice as hostels go. In the TV room they were watching the Shawshank redemption so we joined them - it had to be done! Next morning we headed into the city and had a wander round - visiting the Cathedral and Art gallery and had a picnic lunch in a park. It is just like England here - there was even a river with overhanging willows and people punting on it! We weren't overly inspired by the city, so an overnight stay suited us fine! after this we were heading down to Oamaru to see the penguins...