Well time is running out for our adventures of New Zealand- and we find ourselves in Kaikoura, the whale watching capital of the world. We hoped to get a brief glimpse of these natural wonders before we left these shores. Unfortunately having booked ourselves on a boat we awoke this morning to torrential rain and sleet!! There has been a sudden cold front here and even up to a foot of snow in Christchurch. This is a little worrying as our plane leaves from there in 48 hours!! Anyway, not to be put off we've booked on tomorrows boat and are spending today catching up on jobs to be done before going to S. America.... namely practising our Spanish!! Ruth is very good, she can remember how to ask how to get to nearest ice rink and I'll be OK if I need to purchase a ripe water melon...........so don't worry about us!! You'll be glad to hear that we managed to watch the first England match. This entailed a long and fraught journey from the countryside where there was no chance of watching it to the metropolis (well sort of) of Christchurch. We did our reconnaissance and found an English pub 'the Bard'. We then waited patiently for the 1am kick off and joined the crowds to watch a pretty average performance.... Ruth cheered up on the way back to the hotel at 3am as I treated her to a curried spring roll...... it was the least she deserved!!! Anyway enjoy your heatwave - we're happy getting frostbite, looking attractive in our thermals - much more so than in speedo's and bikini's Love E and R - will be in touch when fathomed Ecuador's technology xxxxxx