We arose in our car and stepped out into the cold rushed to the toilet then rushed back to our warm bed and fell back asleep for a bit hoping it would get warmer next time we woke. When we got up properly it was warmer…..but not much. We grabbed lunch, got a shower then drove into the town centre. After doing a couple of U-turns on dead end streets due to the 'Red Zone' (no access zone due to the earthquake) we found the Botanic Gardens, we were guided into a m...

On Friday 9th March it was an early start as the alarm sang "take my hand, walk with me, on a nice summers day'. We slapped it off and got up, quickly got refreshed, gobbled down some breakfast then took the massive 2 minute walk to the train station. 45 minutes later after 1 change we arrived at the airport, checked our bags in, were told we would not be allowed in New Zealand unless we had our outward flight booking printed so rushed round trying to get a print...