The next day (Thursday 12th January) we got up and drove the short drive to Dunedin. This was first called New Edinburgh by the first Scottish settlers and has lots of Scottish influence which I really liked. Our first stop was Cadbury World! As some of you may know I do like my chocolate so this was great fun for me. We learned all about the history of Cadbury in NZ and got lots of free chocolate throughout the tour. We also got to try fresh liquid chocolate - it was good and I made Paul get me another wee pot! We then up the old milk silo to watch a tonne of liquid chocolate being dropped. Some of the kids on the tour were terrified by this and screamed the whole time the chocolate flowed - it was really quite funny! I meanwhile wanted to jump in to the falling chocolate!

After all that chocolate we headed out to the Otago Peninsula in search of some penguins! Unfortunately our trip was a bit futile but we did get to see the stunning scenery but the search for the penguins continues!

We then went to book ourselves into our holiday park for the night which was just outside the city - close enough for us to walk into for dinner which we had in the Octagon - the centre of the city. We sat outside and watched the world go by!

The following morning the search for the penguins continued even although it was pouring with rain! This time we headed north to Oamaru and went to the Blue penguin colony site. This site was especially made for the penguins and they love it here. There are lots of nest boxes which the penguins stay in for life. They also mate for life and their interaction which each other is very sweet. We had a guide take us around the boxes and we were trying to peek into the opening in their box to see them. This site tries not to interfere with them so we were peeking into lots of boxes but had to stay about a metre away from them. We did see a few of them in their boxes and they were very cute. The blue penguins are the smallest penguins and the only ones which are not black and white! They did have some boxes in a special viewing area and we got to see the adult couples - they were very cute and pruning each other.

We then hit the road as we were planning on staying in Akaroa which is near Christchurch. Unfortunatley when we arrived the holiday park was full! This was the first time this has happened on our trip so we can't complain. Thankfully there was another park in a town nearby called Duvauchelle. This area is the only place in NZ which was inhabited by the French back in the day so the area has quite a French influence. Our site was right by the lake and it was really lovely. Another BBQ and some wine made it a lovely evening.

The following morning the sun was shining and it was beautiful. We headed into Christchurch and decided to book into a holiday park and get the bus into the city. As you know Christchurch has had many earthquakes in the last year with the most significant being the February 2011 quake. Paul and I thought they might be some damage but what we encountered was well beyond what we ever expected. The city is like a ghost town! The main CBD area is not accessible - it is all cordoned off and is called the red zone. Then damage to the buildings is quite significant and we could see some of the cathedral but with so much damage it was hard to know what part you are looking at. I found it all quite emotionally overwhelming as so many shops, bars & restaurants have been forced to be abandoned and owners were not allowed back in so everything still remains.

It was so eerie walking around the areas you are allowed in as it is so quiet as there are no cars. It was all very sad. They are starting to rebuild and one of the projects is a pop up mall made of ship containers in the square which is safe. They even had banks in these containers! This just opened at the end of October but it is a start to try and rebuild life in the city.

Apart from this pop up mall there really is nothing else opened in the centre of the city. It was quite depressing for us so I can imagine it must be heart breaking for locals. There was some malls outside the centre which the lady at the holiday park told us about. (At the time I thought it was quite strange but after visiting the city centre, I can now understand why!) So we went there for a look as there really wasn't much else to do. We walked there and took the scenic route through the park which was lovely as it was a really sunny day.

We ended up having dinner at a restaurant near the mall. Visiting Christchurch was not at all what I expected and it was a little sad to end our trip here. But we still managed to enjoy ourselves and I have had an awesome time in NZ. Tomorrow we have a long day and we are doing it twice as we are flying over the international dateline and going to Maui, Hawaii!!! Can't wait!!!