I'm in my penultimate country! Arrived in Christchurch at 2.15pm, now a mere 12 hours ahead of home! I set off from Sydney at 6am for my airport shuttle, careful, but not too careful after my nights of disturbed sleep, not to wake the other dorm sleepers. I arrived at 6.30 and checked in, bought some breakfast from the cafe, $5.90 for yoghurt and muesli! Good job I did get something though, as I was flying on Jetstar, who I gather are similar to Easyjet so don't provide meals.

I was a little worried about getting through customs and so declared anything that might be suspected in any way of being contraband, including my boomerang, wooden postcard and walking boots. I even ticked the box to say I'd had contact with wild animals, not sure if she was amused when I said I'd hugged a koala! Better safe than sorry though! The dog stopped at my bag when I was waiting for my rucksack to come around the carousel, suddenly felt very guilty, but when I said I'd been up to the Blue Mountains she seemed happy and gave the dog a treat: she never actually looked inside my bag!

I rang the hostel when I arrived as I was told to and they said they'd send someone, but when I'd stood in the cold for half an hour and seen nobody I rang back, only to find out the driver hadn't taken her phone and so didn't know I was there. Another fifteen minutes and I was flying around in the back of the van toward the hostel. Had a room right next to the front door on the ground floor so I was extra vigilant about locking up my stuff and door every time I went out, even for a drink. The room had a heater though, and apart from the long hairs on my pillow was clean enough.

I set off in search of the town centre and was surprised to find it was freezing! Could have been England with the grey clouds, cold temperature, and green parks. I found the Scott memorial, and Cathedral Square, then after getting lost and not finding any open cafes or convenience stores went back to the hostel hungry. As luck would have it when I walked out a bit later I found a Burger King, a pub, and a row of cafes... if I'd just turned right rather than left! Ended up in a little cafe called 'Sophie's', which was very cosy. I read a year-old magazine whilst having a lovely hot chocolate, and then ordered a 'toastie' with chicken, relish, and pesto - yum! I retired to my room much happier!

I had a lie-in on Sunday morning, but made up for it by getting lost in the park and Botanic Gardens when I went for a run, which consequently left me running for nearly an hour! Chuffed but tired! When I got back to the hostel I noticed a sign saying 'want someone to call you' and a phone number, so after considering it I text mum and asked if she might be free to call me, hoping she'd be up late on Saturday night! After a few mishaps both ends the phone rang and a very familiar voice answered, unfortunately my voice failed me at that moment and I was rendered speechless as the tears fought their way through. I think Mum thought it was a dodgy line and it eventually went dead. Luckily this gave me time to compose myself a little before the phone rang again, and I got to speak to Mummy and Daddy again! The tears were being held back, but it was so odd to hear them. I was happy in my travels, but hearing them just made me realise what I was missing. Lovely to talk, but I couldn't bear the heart wrenching of doing it too often whilst travelling! Good job there's only another 7 weeks! It had had to be cut short anyway because Mum was using her mobile! As Doug reminded it would cost about a pound a minute. Hopefully I'm worth it....

Jo arrived at about 1.30 on Sunday, I'd grabbed a lift to the airport with the hostel's free shuttle so I could meet her, and eventually found her in the terminal. We dumped our stuff in our new room in the hostel and made our way to Sophie's Cafe again for food as Jo had been on the go since Friday! We opted for the big breakfast even though it was 4pm, and after the two slices of toast, hash browns, eggs, and a sausage, we were both ready for bed! We didn't eat for the rest of the day!

Jo did manage a walk around the main centre so I showed her the cathedral and we bought some juice, nothing too taxing for a Sunday afternoon, then finally collapsed at about 7, waking at 9 thinking it was morning. I may have accidentally let her think that for a little too long!