Captains Log. Star Date 16.10.05 Wellington! Officially half way through our time in NZ and onto the North island we have come! Firstly a quick catch up on things we've done before getting here... So! Christchurch, for the second time on our trip (as we flew into there for those of you not paying attention at the back) Christchurch is known as the "English City" and it makes sense to me after seeing the rest of the places in the South Island, it definatley is very British. We only spent one night there as there isnt really a great deal to do there, we spent our time wandering around the city by the river Avon (named after the one in England) where we stopped for a beer, followed by a wander around the shops, and stopped for another beer or two, followed by a curry (I notice how much of a pair of Brits abroard we are when I write this all down!) followed by what was meant to be an early night in the hostel as we had to get up very early the following morning to get to Kaikoura. The hostel we were staying at had a bar downstairs and a live band on that played until around 1am, so we were not that impressed as it was really loud and kind of annoying when we were trying to sleep. I was the nice little sister and gave Stuart my earplugs (everybody say aaaaah) so he would stop moaning and get to sleep!! So we got back on the magic bus headed to Kaikoura. Its really lovely there, bigger than I expected and reminded us both of Devon or Cornwall, coastal town, but not tacky like skeggy (no offence mum and dad!!) We wandered down to the beach, the first one we've seen since arriving here, the water was a really beautiful shade of tourquiose (how the hell do you spell that word??) but really cold (according to Stu I didnt even dip a pinky in!) Apparently Kaikoura is the maori word for 'cold waters' so that makes sense. The 'beach' is like Brighton or something, pebbley. We did our dutiful stop in a bar before hiring a couple of bikes from our hostel and going on a bike ride. We got on the bikes and with Lance Armstrong leading headed to the longest steepest hill in the vicinity! Getting up it was a bit of a mission, and I did my part by moaning and continually stopping for most of the way! : ) Coming down was a lot more fun as we went really fast, we then rode along the beach front. I felt like I was riding up a hill again, which was strange, I thought, because we were on flat ground, I stopped to check out what the hunk of junk was going on and found my (pale yellow) hoody (which was tied around my waist) firmly wedged inbetween the brake pad and the tire! D'Oh!!!!! After a small fight with said hoody, tire, brake pad and myself, I won, and carried on my merry way with black cack smeared all over my hoody. Only me. We stopped at, see if you can guess? A bar? Yes well done, and then rode back. It was a good way to see some really nice views, the next day my butt was killing me though! : / In the evening when we were about to go to sleep we could hear this constant knocking on the ceiling, to which Stuart investigated to find a pipe that ran along the top of our room knocking in the wind, nothing a pair of pants and a bunk up couldn't fix! Knocking stopped, Stu a pair of pants down (no pun intended!) we went to sleep! We headed up to Picton on Saturday, where we had booked the evening ferry to head over to Wellington, thinking we could have a look round Picton before heading up to the North Island. Well, looking around Picton took all of ten mintues! We walked around it a few times, then stopped in a cafe, followed by a bar, before accepting our fate and settling down in the ferry terminal for about 4 hours!! : / One highlight of waiting was the crazy lady who had about 5 bags and two teddy's with her, who talked to everyone asking if they liked her dog? "It looks real but it isnt real, makes no difference to me tho" etc etc. When we were waiting for our bags in Wellington hers came round the wheel and she started yelling at perfect strangers to get them off for her! ha ha! The ferry took about 3 hrs to get across and it was evening now so we didnt see much of the city on arrival... This morning we got up and went for a walk, and are both impressed by the place. Definatley the most 'city-like' place we've seen in NZ. We went to Te Papa museum, which is 6 floors of information and interactive things all to do with New Zealand. Very informative and we spent a good 4-5 hours in there! Afterwards, had a wander around the city, Stuart leading the way, pipes up whilst walking up a big hill, "I didn't think there were any hills here, I think we've found the only one..." brightly. Yeah, I had noticed!!!! Bar, then back to the hostel for dinner! Think that is all for now, my my this is a long one, thanks for sticking with it! : ) Over and out xxx