Apricot-tastic At the end of a long day, what better way to relax that with a cold, locally brewed wheat beer. The ones on special offer were with apricot. Good job we love apricots as we had accidentally also had apricot oat bars as a snack and dried apricots with our lunch. All very yummy and fairly healthy, so not a problem! Leah

Here is the newest addition to our travelling entourage. A flashy new case for our little laptop. It gets a few stares as it is bright pink, has a flowery cat on the cover, and designed for 8 year old school girls - but we love it. And at only $6 it was a steal. DW

The Devil'a Punchbowl Falls The drive from Christchurch to the west coast over Arthur's pass is rightly considered to be one of the most scenic drives in NZ. The Alps are amazing and the different views, as we drove up and through, used up a lot of camera battery! Just past Arthur's Pass Village at the top, we took a little walk to these beautiful falls. They were amazing from the viewing platform but as we scrambled over the fence and up the rocky almost path,...

On our last day in Christchurch we went back out to the Banks Peninsula that we visited during our cruise. Last time we went for a 5 hour walk and got a little sunburnt. This time however we were more sensible and just drove round the viewpoints in our lovely little white car. The pleasures of being a flashpacker!!!!! Unfortunately driving requires some map-reading and we accidentally took a detour and ended up driving down an unsealed road for an hour, by the e...

Yum! I had been really craving fish and chips for a while now, partly as NZ has a strong English heritage and so much coast that they are fairly ubiquitous. Today in Akaroa I decided to cave in to the deep fried goodness and I was not disappointed. The cafe claimed to have the best fish and chips in NZ and although it looked like a greasy spoon I decided to give it a go. The batter was light and crisp, the chips chunky and salty and the fish was melt in your m...