Day 164 Thursday 18th February 2010 Johno says Today we transferred to Christchurch through the foothills of the Southern Alps, it was a miserable day so we didn't have many stops on the way. Then we made it through the flat Canterbury plains which is a total contrast to the hills and mountains that we have been seeing for the past week or so. The coach driver was asking questions to the passengers and I suggested she asked 'how many muscles a cat has in its ea...

Day 163 Wednesday 17th February 2010 Stacey says This morning we began our trip to Lake Tekapo. This is pretty much a stop to break up the journey to Christchurch. It is also the place which you can head to Mt. Cook from, but we didn't have time to walk up the mountain. We arrived to Lake Tekapo around 4pm. It was a stunning lake, with turquoise blue coloured water. It was a very remote little village, very peaceful place. There was a small church where a lot...

Day 160 Sunday 14th February 2010 Johno says Happy Birthday to me!! Yes, I may have made it to a ripe old age but today we are off to the student city of Dunedin (meaning Edinburgh of the South) which was founded by Scottish settlers with affluence gained from the nearby gold rush helping settlers to construct buildings reminiscent of their homeland so there is a heavy Scottish influence with road names such as George and Princes Street and even home to New Zea...

Day 158 Friday 12th February 2010 Stacey says Up and out this morning to head for Queenstown. We passed through the Fox Glacier which is another town settled next to a Glacier, we stopped for a quick coffee and a handful of Fox Mints, before stopping at Lake Matheson, the 'Mirror Lake' famous for its reflections of the Southern Alps. We had Adrian as our on coach entertainment today, he was still drunk, and saved a seat next to himself for a girl to sit besid...

Day 157 Thursday 11th February 2010 Johno says Today we were to travel with our sore heads even further south down the west coast to Franz Josef. Our first stop was at a little town called Ross, apparently the gold rush in the mid 1800's brought thousands to the area but now only 4,000 remain, after a quick spot of gold panning we headed for the Alpine village of Franz Josef which was the home to some accessible glaziers. On our approach to our hostel we coul...