Hello,

We're now in NZ! Flights were fine, but the transfers didn't exactly go to plan. We missed flights due to immigration delays (obviously they didn't want us in the country). We had problems with our tickets (i.e according to the computers we didn't have any tickets. Computer says "No"). We arrived in Auckland after about 25hrs of travelling, then Biosecurity(!) confiscated the tent to have a look at it?! Finally got that back but had missed the connecting flight. Got transferred onto a much later flight. Spent much of this time outside in the car parks as the Fire Alarm kept going off. Arrived in Christchurch about 16:00 local time. Picked up the car, which actually isn't too much of a banger (Nissan Pulsar).

Christchurch was fine. Neither of us were terribly impressed by it. It was supposed to be very British but we found it to be quite americanised. The buildings were a bit characterless and mainly grey. On the plus side the hostel was really nice. Spent quite a bit of time in the Botanical Gardens. We had a punt along the river Avon and watched a Buskers Festival.

We drove onto Akaroa after two days in Christchurch. We had booked to swim with some wild Hector Dolphins, but when we arrived it was very windy and choppy out in the Harbour. So the swimming was cancelled but we managed to go on a Wildlife Cruise around the Harbour. Check out our photos. This was amazing and we couldn't believe how many we saw.

We are now in the bottom of the Southern Alps camping in a Department of Conservation campsite. Its very nice and has some shade which is most welcome! We plan to do some trailed walks around this area over the next few days and visit Mount Cook.

Hope everyone is well at home. You can either email us or leave us messages on here if you want to.

Love

Jo and Matt

xxx