KATIE Well, this time we actually managed to get off and stay off the train when it arrived in Kaikoura! Unfortunately, as we feared the strong wind meant the whale trip was cancelled once again but we were assured that the forecast for tomorrow morning was good and that the morning trips ran more often than the afternoon. So, with hope in my heart for seeing whales tomorrow we trudged off along a short cut to the hostel which involved negotiating our way throug...

KATIE Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th November Following the last update in the pouring rain we caught the Tranz Scenic train from Greymouth to Christchurch, unfortunately not quite as scenic in the cloud and rain as it might have been otherwise but still some lovely views! We arrived in Christchurch late afternoon by which time the sun was out and it looked like the worst of the bad weather NZ had been experiencing was passing over. Checked into the Jailhouse Hot...

KATIE I feel like we should be boarding Noah's Ark, it's been pretty much 2 days now of solid, torrential rain. I don't think I've ever seen so much rain in such a short space of time, England and even Wales isn't a patch on this!! Luckily, until this morning it's not really stopped us doing anything so can't complain! So this morning we're updating the blog instead of doing a nice 3 hour walk, some would say that was a good thing..... Puzzling World was great,...

JAMES For the past couple of days we have been enjoying the undoubted luxury of staying somewhere for more than one night (for the first time since the first stint in Sydney), with the added luxury of having a hire car. This means that not only can we empty all our sh!t over the bedroom and not have to pack it up again a few hours later, but even when we do have to pack it up again it doesn't all have to fit into the rucksack as it can just be piled into the bac...

JAMES Welcome to New Zealand! It was an eventful journey over from Australia on Sunday - everything went smoothly on the first flight from Sydney to Christchurch, but as we were sitting waiting to board the next plane for a 50 minute hop down to Queenstown, we were told that there was bad weather in Queenstown and we might have to divert to Invercargill and then bus it up to Queenstown. Suffice it to say that that was exactly what happened, so we were a good 3 h...