We caught our plane to Christchurch where we were warmly greeted by Helen's cousin Lee, his wife Helen, their children Sam and Oliver and the cold! (and by heck, it was cold!)

We were then taken to our home for the next week, in Burnham. Helen and Lee's friend offered us use of her house while she was away holidaying and we were shocked to find that it only had a fire as a means to keep warm. New Zealand don't do central heating or double glazing which is ridiculous considering it gets very cold here. Once we got the fire going, we went to Lee and Helen's place for some dinner.

Our first night was actually more bearable than we imagined purely because we had loads of layers on, blankets, hot drinks, the fire on and hot water bottles for bedtime. A real contrast to the sun and cocktails of Indonesia!

Over the next couple of days, Lee took us into Christchurch, it was a surreal experience as although we read all about the earthquake in the newspapers it really hits you when you see the damage for yourself. Lots of rubble everywhere, scaffolding and wherever you look it looks like a building site. A lot of Central Christchurch is cordoned off and marked as a "red zone" so Helen didn't get the chance to see the Cathedral or surrounding areas which is meant to be beautiful. Rumours are that they are going to demolish it as they cannot get funding for rebuilding/refurbishing. Nick has been to Christchurch twice before and he was shocked at the difference in the city, it wasn't bustling and there was hardly anyone on the streets.

In the days we spent in Burnham, we mostly chilled out, sorted ourselves out and allowed our bodies acclimatise to the cold. However, we did make a day trip to Akaroa, with Lee, Helen and Oliver. The drive to Akaroa was particularly challenging even though we weren't driving, but it gave us a taste of what was to come - long winding roads, steep hills, sharp bends and altitude! Akaroa is absurdly beautiful and there is a lot of evidence of French settlement, lots of French flags flying and even the street names were in French. We had lunch first before walking around the Bay, the water was stunning and an insane colour of blue even if the sky was covered in grey clouds! We had a little play in the park and throwing pebbles into the sea.

The simple things in life :)