We were up extremely early, the earliest start of our travels so far (3.30am!) to get our taxi to the airport, and we had a 2 hour flight down to Brisbane before we changed planes and finally left Australia to go to New Zealand. The flight to Christchurch took less than 3 hours, so we only just had time to watch a short movie (the new Paddington film - it was really funny!) before we were preparing to land, and we got down through the cloud cover to get our first look at New Zealand. The countryside looked stunning - a patchwork of fields for miles in every direction that looked a lot like England, with the sea on one side and huge mountains on the other. We got through customs really quickly, even though we had to declare quite a few things like our dive equipment and wooden souvenirs that we had got in Australia, and then it was off to get a bus to our hostel. It was a lot colder than up in Cairns! The bus driver said they had been having pretty good weather, so that was a good sign, and he also dropped us off right outside our hostel so we didn't need to walk very far with our bags at all - people in New Zealand have been really friendly so far! We had another pleasant surprise when we checked in at the hostel, because we thought we were just getting a room with a shared bathroom, when we actually got given our own apartment complete with ensuite and our own kitchen! After a quick trip out to the supermarket for supplies we cooked some food and then had a really early night, in one of the comfiest beds in the quietest room we have stayed in so far, bliss! After a nice lie in, we got out and about to explore the city. It was pretty much destroyed in an earthquake around 4 years ago, and there are still loads of derelict buildings and empty spaces, but there are loads of pieces of artwork filling these gaps so it's a really interesting city to look around. We walked through some huge wooden arches at the Commons and crossed over Victoria Bridge, which goes over the Avon River and looks like it would fit in perfectly in England, it reminds us a lot of Winchester. We had found out before we got to New Zealand that Prince Harry was going to be in Christchurch at the same time as us, and as we got closer to the city centre we saw loads of police, and journalists and members of the public were all heading in the same direction so we decided to follow. We walked past the Christchurch Cathedral, which was destroyed in the earthquake and sadly still hasn't been fixed yet, and made our way to the Re:START Mall. On the way we saw a tram go past, which Prince Harry was in, but we didn't get a good look. When we got to the Mall there was quite a big crowd of people so we joined them, but didn't get a good look as he had already gone inside a building. The police cordoned off the road, so we joined the crowd at the barriers (only a couple of rows back from the front) and waited - after about 20 minutes he came out of the building and we got a really good view of him! He spent well over half and hour going round the crowd saying hello to as many people as possible, we weren't close enough to the front to shake his hand but we got some pretty good pictures and he seemed really friendly! After we'd seen him we decided to move out to let other people get close up the barriers, so we had a look around the mall - it is made entirely out of shipping containers that have all been painted really bright colours. It was set up right after the earthquake so the shops could get up and running, and they are still in the containers - it's actually really cool, and there are loads of shops and even more places to eat that sell delicious cheap food. We bought some souvenirs and then had a pizza which was really good. We then decided to scout out where our bus stop is for Thursday, which was pretty easy, and afterwards we walked through the New Regent Street Mall and got a coffee (very good). We were planning on exploring more of the city, but the weather suddenly turned and it started hailing on us, so we headed back to our apartment to dry off. The next day we decided to have a look around the park, because the guide book said that Christchuch was known as the Garden City. We walked to Hagley Park and walked along by the river before going to have a look at the duck pond - there were hundreds of ducks and it looked very English! We then crossed over the river and walked through the Botanic Gardens, which were very pretty but very autumnal, so there were lots of red and yellow leaves on the trees, it makes a nice change from the constant sun up in Queensland! We then walked further along by the river, passing the punt boats that go up and down the river, before heading back into the centre for more food from the Re:START Mall (German hotdogs this time, which were also really good, as well as homemade lemonade and a really good coffee). We then walked back to our apartment via the Cathedral, and back at the apartment relaxed for a bit before getting our bags ready for our journey to Queenstown.