Dear Panda

Thank you for buying us the Waipara Sleeper Train for our wedding gift. It was exactly like staying in Thomas the Tank Engine so it was lots of fun. Each of the 'rooms' at the hostel was a converted train carriage. They had their own little living area still with the original seats and a cute little bedroom at the back with the narrowest double bed you have seen. The side door could be slid open to reveal a little balcony and it was a short walk away to the train station with the kitchen and living area in it. There weren't any fat controllers around but there was a very moody person who ran the hostel, but we mostly ignored her and she ignored us so that was fine.

The hostel was set in a little town called Waipara about an hour north of Christchurch. It was a strange little town. Although it seemed like a fair sized dot on the map, it didn't have any sort of centre at all. There wasn't a single shop, bar, cafe or supermarket to be found in the entire town. In fact there was nothing except vineyards and trains. The nearest shop was ten kilometers away! Unfortunately, as we had just come from the wine festival in Blenheim, we were a bit wined out so maybe it wasn't the bestest place for us to visit at that point.

Because there wasn't really that much else to do there, it was a bit of a transient hostel with people only tending to stay there for a night and then moving on. Because of this, the place was beautifully quiet and serene during the day when there was no one around. This suited us perfectly when we arrived tired and hungover and we were looking forward to a nice chilled night. That was until our new favourite Finnish person in the whole wide world; Laura turned up and told us it was her birthday which meant that we had to go and buy cake from the nearest shop in the next town and lots of wine to celebrate. In the entire Finnish language, only two words have ever been incorporated into the English language: sauna and molotov cocktail. I am not sure what that has to do with anything but it is one of the few Finnish facts that I know so I thought I would throw it in there.

It was a jolly good night.

The next day we went to some hot springs in the nearby town of Hanmer and we took our new favourite Finnish person in the whole wide world with us. For those of you who are following, that is now five different hot springs we have been to in New Zealand compared to nine crazy golf courses. It is a fair guess that most New Zealand towns have one or the other. At this rate, we are going to be able to complete a list of top ten hot springs in New Zealand so I won't spoil the surprise by telling you how good it was.

Travelling isn't all about doing lots of fun stuff. It is also about not doing fun stuff as well. On our second day in Waipara rather than go and see vineyards or have a day trip into Christchurch, we woke up and decided to do nothing, absolutely nothing. We laid on the grass outside our train in the shade and read all day long, only stopping for a lazy lunch and to go to bed at nighttime, and you know what it was lots of fun. Laying there in the peace and quiet, listening to the birds singing and watching the butterflies fluttering by and the hostel cats trying to eat both the birds and the butterflies. Taking seven months off should be about relaxing, not just about rushing around doing everything you can.

However, it does give you far too much time to think. My thought of the day was: You know what? I cannot remember the last time I sat on a sofa. At home you tend to do it at least once a day but since we have been away, the number of sofa-sittings in my life has decreased dramatically. While the number of alternative seating styles has increased: camping chairs, walls, swing chairs, sun loungers etc. This isn't necessarily a bad thing nor a good thing, it is just a thought.

All our love

Jim and Donna

INTERESTING KIWI FACT OF THE DAY

In 1989, Martika famously sang about the earth moving under her feet and about the sky 'tumblin down, tumblin down'. Martika was obviously using the movement of their earth's tectonic plates as a metaphor for her sexual pleasure when being near or around an unnamed gentleman. Little did she know at the time, that her fun and poppy song, that reached number seven in the UK charts at the time, would have such a macabre and dire meaning to the people of Christchurch twenty seven years later on the 14th February 2016 when a 5.7 strength earthquake hit under the sea just outside the city. Residents reported 'some things fell off some shelves' and some diners felt compelled to leave the restaurant's early (others chose to stay and finish their meals). If Martika had been able to foresee the future then maybe she wouldn't have been so flippant about comparing her gratification to an earthquake.