Wahoo! We have arrived in Christchuch! after a little hop across the water, we arrived in good spirits excited about a new country! We had an easy transfer to our hostel which was a period building that had been renovated into beautiful dorms, and was run by a very old man (who asked us his rent was!). The two days we were there we were struck by how anglicised the city was, and also its size. Being the capital of the South island Christhurch took about 15mins to walk from one end to the other but was filled with beautiful buildings, the old cathedral stood next to modern sculptres and glass fronted high rise offices. The River Avon ran through the southern part of town, surrounded by very tranquil parkland- which looked exactly like numerous parks in England just better maintained. We spent a few days wandering around visiting 'the strip' which had some swanky bars (although we could only afford a beer each!)- Alex was very upset at his poor choice of a pint of Radleys which tasted suspiciously like disinfectant! A