Tuesday 15th April i flew from Wellington to Christchurch to start my south island trip. Didn't have a great night's sleep as was woken up by japanese people coming in late, and a german girl left at 4am... so got to my hostel in Christchurch, had a wander around, got a free shuttle bus around the city, found a library sat in there for a bit and nearly nodded off (isn't that what tramps/old people do??) then the evening there was a TV room showing films.

The next day after a good nights sleep felt more active, walked around the cathedral, and walked the route that the trams take. Christchurch is quite english-y with trams, a river and even punting on the river (which of course like most things it was closed). Went into yet another museum - this was quite a random collection of different themes - Maori, 18th century stuff, mummys, sea birds, asian art, antartic and dinosaurs. Suppose in London we have separate museums for each, but this was confusingly lumped into one place. Then walked through the botanic gardens there was a lake with about 20 old blokes racing remote control yachts around it, moaning about their wives. Think i'm turning into a retired person myself visiting museums and gardens everyday... perhaps i need to get to Queenstown quickly and do something like throw myself off a cliff attached to a rubber band like the youngster i'm supposed to be...