Day 1- Sydney- ChristchurchIsn't it soooo annoying when you have to get up early, so the nights sleep is one of constant waking up to check the time...well I had woken Scott up at 2.30am to see what the time was. Just in case his two alarms he had set hadn't gone off-haha! So the two zombies wandeed downstairs when the alarm finally went off to wait for the bus, carrying with us a bag of food incase New Zealand didn't let us in! We also spent an hour cleaning our delightful walking boots as your not allowed to take any soil into the country! Thankfully we had a Scott's toothbrush to hand and scrubbed away- haha! We were picked up at 5.05 by a shuttle bus to take us to the airport. We were waiting at one hotel for 20minutes for a couple and a baby to get out of bed- we don't have all day lovies-we have a plane to catch!!! We did still manage to make it to the airport though before check in opened as we all know by now that I just love getting to the airport keeno early! So we stood at the front of the queue on our own until check in opened. Both our bags were now over 20kg by the way when we checked in and we hadn't put anything extra in since leaving home-Australian air must just be alot heavier than english air! Laura took her aeroplane drugs and we then made our way to a cafe for breakfast and to write postcards!...whilst watching the aeroplanes take off of course as Laura likes watching them...I could happily watch them all day-just don't put me in one!!! I've learnt though that I have to fly as it takes years to get home by boat! It wasn't long before we boarded for our 3hour flight to Christchuch! We hopped on a bus to the aeroplane where the air was filled with bo from a guy who had his arms in the air...it smelt worse than terrible! Thought it would be a bit rude to offer him deodrant though! On board we came accross a friendly couple sitting next to us who happened to be staying in our hotel! That would save the cost of a taxi-score!!! I had to aplolgise to them for not being all with it for te rest of the day as aeroplane drugs had kicked in far stronger this time and I wasn't making much sense! I was also over zombiefied to the extent I was surprised when I was surprised when we passed fast moving clouds on the plane-oops! Scott found this hilarious- I can't help it- its the drugs! Like Australia, in order to get into New Zealand you have to prove where your going and when your going to the leave the country before your allowed entry- so out came our flight itenary. We then filled out forms of what food we had, whether we were carrying more than $10,000 (yeh we wish-unfortunatly we still haven't wont he lottery yet-dammit! We then had to have our boots closely inspected by customs...thankfully all our hard scrubbing had paid off! If that wasn't interrogating enough we then had our bags sniffed by a dog to check we wern't carrying fresh food or I presume drugs?!! We then finally went with our new friends and got a cheap bus taxi to the jalihouse where we were staying! Up until 1999 it was a jail and it still looked like that inside except they had dolled it up alot. Being so utterly exhausted we asked to move from a 10 bed dorm to a twin room as I could barely stay awake. As soon as I sat on the ed I fell asleep for 2hours-oops! In that time Scott had had a shower, a tour of the building with Alan, went and found out about internet, and read about New Zealand in the book! I was then woken-which was a struggle, showered in an attempt to unzombify myself (didn't work) and then the four of us walked as close as we could to the centre of Christchurch before getting stopped by the army- oh dam! I only wanted to be nosey and see where we had origionally booked to stay which had now apparently collapsed next to the cathedral! We did however still get to see alot of buildings taped off because they were unstable, damaged or collapsed, along with cracks everywhere! We couldn't believe that such a lovely place from the small amount of it we had seen could have such an awful earthquake. By this point it was dinner time- earlier than other days but we were now 2hours ahead of Sydney so the day had gone super fast! Scott and I literally jumped for joy when we saw the food prices here-sooo much cheaper than Australia so McDonalds could now go and do one- we want nice food! After we all got Id'ed at the bar-was a little stunned that they thought us backpackers were travelling the world at the grand age of 17-but hey hum! We did walk in looking a little confused probably! We crammed onto an eeny weeny tale and Scott went chair hunting. He had a bacon and egg burger and a beer, and I had...have a guess...I haven't had them in a while...nachos!!! Well it turned out to be a few nachos and a million kidney flipping beans- mmm my favourite! Scott enjoyed eating one and a half dinners! Still, it was so much cheaper- 8 pounds each for a decent dinner and a drink! After such a long stressful day I was struggling to stay awake at the dinner table ( I didn't have any matchsticks to hold my eyes open!) I had to once again apologise for not being myself, and we all thought it best we went to sleep! The beds at the hostel were used to the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, I wanted to steal one they were so comfy! We decided though it would be hard work lugging it around with us so we left it in the room.
Day 2- Christchurch- GreymouthThe morning came round way too quick and Scotts alarm was in our bad books. We had breakfast and then had to fill up water bottles with boiling water as the tap water wasn't pure after the earthquake they had in Feb! The thought of drinking hot water reminded me of Ayers rock where everything was hot! We walked out at 7.20am to the bus stop...at 7.35am I was sure it had forgotten to pick us up so was trying to figure out plan B...not needed as the bus then turned up...don't do that to me! We hopped in the full mini bus abd U was sat next to a Bruce and Sheila who were very chatty and told me all about how their daughter lived in England...they couldn't however remember where- took them a good 5mins to remember where- thats worrying! Anyway it was then time to be dropped off at the train station and hop on the tranzalpine train which went across the Southern Alps lasting four and a half hours going to Greymouth. We were sat in the carriage next to the open look out point which was awesome as we could easily happy snap whenever! As usual theres always a chinese person sitting really close to you tkaing photos of...well...everything, people, seats, doors, views, no views etc etc. And that was even before the train left the platform, and oh he was sitting nehind us...well lets hope the backs of our heads were pretty then! An hour into the trip and we hit the mountains. (not literally) As soon as the lady announcer said how it would be a good time to pop to the viewing platform, it was a scram for who could get out there first. Me and Scott vs all the old people on the train. We were the youngest by a fair few years! Of the mountains alone we took 109 photos...and that was just from the first session- sorry we hadn't seen mountains in a while. We thought we were taking varied photos, to you however they could all look the same! (and once we looked back on them later they were!) Whilst out there we reckoned we reckoned we had burnt all of our porridge we had this morning on shivering- it was freezing! Gone from boiling weather to freezing weather in two days- athletes should so try this for flushing out their system after sessions. The views were awesome and so different from what we were used to. We came in to thaw out via a cuppa, a lady walked past us puting her gloves on, announcing to people it was cold outside...and by the looks of her it was also the 1980's outside! Was an eyeopener for sure! We braved it back outside and took a side of the train each so we got different photos, Scott found himself then being photographed byt he chinese man who then jabbed him in the ribs laughing and showing him the picture. We spent the last 20minutes trying to decide where to stay and narrowed it down to three...these three were then thrown out the window when we got off the train and Scott was persuaded by a van outside the station to go to another hostel mainly because it had free internet and a free bakery delivery every day at 4pm! Sold. We went to the wild card hostel whcih turned out to be in a lovely setting with a balcony outside our room! We dropped our bags off, and chilled on the balcony for a bit until the rumbles of Scotts stomach got unbearable. We wandered to a cafe and had toasted sandwiches followed by wandering to the supermarket to get the provisions in! I was so excited to see mini eggs and affordable cream eggs in the store, me and Scott might be able to afford some form of eastegg after all this easter! (Australia was so expensive-surprise surprise) We bought our cheap ready meal dinners and bread and ham for lunch for the next few days! Two packets of tim tams also slipped their way in but on the condition only 2 were eaten a day as part of a healthy diet (wonder how long this will last!) It was at this point that Scott said ready meals aren't healthy...dam you Harris, they are a slight improvement to McDonalds aren't they! We'll eat better tomorrow. We walked back to the hostel along the riverbank with the mountains in the background. For a plce which is apparently dull, it sure is pretty. Steiff came out to play for photos along the riverbank, and in the process we were made jump by the church tower bells next to us as it struck 4pm- think we went a mile in the air! Lets hope no one was watching! Back at the hostel we were waiting for the bakery arrival- I had a scone and Scott had a sausage onion pastry thingy and a cheese scone...and half of my scone! Also cooked our yummy looking dinners- Laura's fish pie although smelling like fish pie didn't look like fish pie and only filled half a bowl- wheres the rest! It was definatly nothing like the tescos finest fish pie that I'm used to I'm telling you now! haha! Scott enjoyed his more substantial risotto though! We spent th eevening being cool and recording ourselves on the webcams singing along to songs-twas hilarious playing it back and def good evening entertainment- we will do showings on request if you want something to laugh at. Laughter turned to horror though when Scott saw a small brown mouselike creature running around the room-oh great! So I got all the stuff off the floor- well Scott did- I was standing on the ebd squealing! Why does it want to come to our room, apart from the tim tams we have no nice food whatsoever. Whilst I ran for hep Scott started looking for it...I came back with not akers to help and Scott couldn't see it-hiddne under the skirting board! He also double checked it hadn't run up his trouser legs- that happened last time he looked for a mouse! Well this isn't fun! I slept wiht all the covers around and over me, and covered the aps between the bed and the wall with our towels incase the mouse decided to run and creep up the wall into my bed!
Day 3- GreymouthWe got up nice and early for a standard weekend skype session with home. (well we sat up in bed and hoped the mouse hadn't come back overnight) We got up to findt here was no free breakfast like we were promised so we made a ham sandwich for breakfast, and made a ham sandwich for lunch! We haven't had ham in a while so a double wammy for us-wahoo! We drew the curtains (well we may aswell not have as it was dark, misty and murky outside!), what a lovely day to do the walk we'd planned! Whilst in the kitchen eating breakfast, the staff had got a dtep ladder out as someone had played a practical joke on them and stuck egg cups to the ceiling-they must have gone to a big effort to do that! We marched to the information centre to go get the vital maps so that Scottnav could navigate us around a walk...the walk idea was however sidetracked when we were told about hte brewery down the road that made beer and cider! As we did wine tasting in Perth its only fair I suppose that Scott gets to do some beer tasting as he had been through alot for me having to taste wine when he hated the stuff! Must have been like doing a bush tukka trial! haha. We were taken on a 45minute tours showing us what goes into making beer and the processes it goes through to get to the bottled package. It was like you were flushing out your system by going from -1 c temperatures in the cellar to rather warm tempteratures in the boiling room! Scott was piping up at every opportunity and asking all questions possible- I thought you wanted to start up a fitness business dear not a brewery! At the end of the tour came the best bits, a chance to sample 6 beers and a cider of the company Monteith's. The cider was lovely jubbly...the beer started off light and limy flavoured (the girls drink apparently according to our guide) and then they got stronger as they went. One was apparently chocolate flavoured beer...well as a chocolate lover I can tell you it tasted vile and nothing like chocolate. Scott informs me though that the beans which went into the beer tasted and smelt like chocolate- he sure made th most of the tour! At the very end we got to have a whole glass of our favourite beverage to ourselves- Scott chose the girly limy beer drink- why does that not surprise me! I had a cider despite being full to the brim of bubbles- but you gotta make the most of free things! Apparently Waitrose sell all the beers that Monteith's make here si for me guys go and buy a bottle and tell us what you think! It will be like sharing something despite being on the other side of the world! After being the last to leave we floated around a bush walk round the wetlands area trying to find white and blue heron's, which Scott he found...only to be told by me they were in fact seagulls- come on dear! Scott walked infront on the path so he could walk into all the cobwebs for me- must have been a popular walk as there were hundreds of cobwebs! We took a pew on the soggy footpath and had our yummy ham sandwiches- not so enjoyable after we got soggy's tush's in less than 5minutes! The bush walk lasted a grand total of not very long so we wandered down to the fishing port and back along the river to our hostel. There was a very eery feeling about Greymouth today, perhaps because it was like a ghost town come the weekend. (commercial town) We made sure we were back for 4pm-I went to get a muffin for Scott and when I came back he thought I had only got for myself so gave me a look of disgust like I'd starved him and went into the kitchen himself. Well if you wanted a cream cake you should have said! We chilled for an hour- well I fell asleep whilst Scott listened to some monotone podcast on latest football! We cookedd our first proper meal of the trip two hours later.We had chicken, peppers, onion (my fav veg-woo!) teryaki sauce and rice! Had to resist buying a fajhita kit but I guess this was a good runner up! As we hadn't cooked a decent meal in a pan for months, we'd forgotten about how pants non-stick pans were. We left the chicken cooking for about 10seconds, and we came back to the pan being black...oopss! Probably not helped by the fact we were using spray oil-which really didn't wok- I think we inhaled more oil than was sprayed in the pan! At least the food was still tasty at the end. The washing up wasn't enjoyable-rice stuck to the bottom of the pan and our frying pan looked like it had been in the sun for too long! Aw thanks Scott for voulnteeing to do that washing up! We sat and ate dinner outside and ended up having a kiwi telling us his life story! Can't have you guys missing out on it so the shortened version was he got made redundant from an amazing job after the explosion in the minrd in NZ that killed 26people-which then forced the mine to shut! He then went on about how NZ is just not the same anymore- he even walked in with us and continued talking once we'd eaten dinner. We spent the evening watching mr Bean the movie which ot really frustrating to watch as it kept freezing though it ended up missing off scenes!