Was woken up this morning by Jon phoning. I don't think he knows the time difference (+11 hrs). I went on a harbour cruise mainly to see the Hectors dolphins. The cruise was good and I did get to see the dolphins but only got one or two photos as they were moving so quickly. I was a bit bored as there was not much to do in Akaroa so planned to move on the next day.

I set off on Monday morning for the town of Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula, just south of Christchurch. The drive down was a form of extreme driving as the peninsula was formed from a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. I had to drive round hairpin bends with speed limits of 25kph on them! The hostel is made up of two wooden cottages with one of them being the dorm. This meant there were only six beds, a kitchen , bathroom and small lounge in it. The town it...