Hi everyone!

This part of my trip has me heading back up to the north island. I left Queenstown after the bottom bus. From here i went to Christchurch. It was a long journey but a couple of stops on the way made it not so bad. I am now travelling with Four girls from the uk that were on my bus down to queenstown. Its good to have people i know on the bus. When we arrived it was a bit rainy. From then onwards the weather just got worse. The driver told us about a rugby match that was going on. We decided we were going to go and support the christchurch team whilst we were there. The match was the crusaders v the sharks. It was a pretty entertaining match. the crowd was good but the weather was terrible. We got absolutely soaked but still had a great time. The next day we investigated the shops and got some much needed items. at least thats what i told myself. The following morning i left for Kaikoura. This is where i hoped to go swimming with the dolphins. Unfortunaley due to the weather it was cancelled twice. However i did get to try the greatest fish and chips. To entertain myself i took a wine tour and learned all about how it is made. i got to taste it to which was great. Wellington, the capital city of nz was my next destination. I liked this city as it had the world famous Te Papa museum. It is listed in the top 10 in the world. I really liked it as it was interactive and told all the nz history amoungst other things. there was a bit nature display and one about earthquakes and natural disasters. I managed to spend hour there. On the day we left Wellington there was a few problems with the bus. It took three hours to find what was wrong and get the part to fix it. Nevermind these things happen. It just made the journey back to Taupo really long. We finally got there and got checked in. That evening was spent catching up on things and relaxing. The next couple of days the plan is to hire bikes and find the hot river and spring and hopefully to see the geezers. It is a little dissapointing the Tongariro crossing has been cancelled due to bad weather. This is supposed to be the best one day hike in nz and rated top 10 in the world. Cant be helped but i did want to do it. In a couple of days i will be back in Auckland ready to fly to Australia. I have really enjoyed New Zealand and would like to return at some point. xxx