JAMES It is a good job we have this blog to write. Even if no-one is actually reading it, it has at least twice provided us with a means of killing a few hours when we have been stuck in dull-ar$ed towns waiting for transport out which doesn't go for several hours. Mackay was one such place. A smallish provincial town with a fairly deadbeat high street containing a motley collection of automotive and wholesale shops, a couple of grungy looking pubs, and no super...

KATIE I thought we'd got over the bad organisation at airports but apparently not! Trying to make a connection at Sydney airport to get to Ayers Rock with only about 1.5 hours and having to check in completely again isn't the best idea. Needless to say we ended up (as in Peru) being rushed to the front of queues to be able to make the flight. Still, it saved us being bored! I don't think James could see any advantages though, he was getting very wound up by all ...

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,...