We packed up the tent pretty quickly with the sun out which made things much easier. We'd heard on the local radio about a horse race taking place at the local track so we arrived there a few hours before the races started. The clouds soon covered but it was good fun getting involved. We stayed for 4 races but didn't manage to win back a single dollar of the entrance fee, cutting our £5.50 loses we left mid afternoon, back on the road for a few hours. We knew...

It was finally time to leave the hostel, having enjoyed our time there it was time to move on. We headed south in search of somewhere to stay within reasonable driving distance. We'd been told by the tourist information that for the majority of January we might struggle to get onto campsites as most of the month is holiday period for the Kiwis. Rachael drove as Tom had had a little too much to drink the night before, Tom slept most of the way and a couple of h...

We rung home again this morning as it was their Christmas day and went out for another drive. We followed a scenic route in the car from the guide book which took you out of the city, climbing up steep winding roads until you could look down with a great view over Christchurch. When we arrived back at the hostel, Rachael had a sleep and we had a very quiet afternoon with a few beers. In the evening after tea Tom went into town to see the dizzy heights of Chris...

Merry Christmas or just Friday if you're Rachael. We got up around 8.00am this morning and joined the queue for the telephone so we could both ring home. After breakfast, we made some butties, filled the flask and set off out in the car to a penninsular about two hours away. The drive was lovely and we stopped off at a town and sat by the sea watching families pull up and take their boats on onto the water for the morning. When we arrived back at the hostel we...

Christmas eve or just Thursday if you ask Rachael. It doesn't feel like Christmas here at all. When we were in Australia we booked a hostel for three days over Christmas in Christchurch, not knowing how busy places were going to be so thats where we were heading this morning. The site we were on last night was only about a 20 minute drive away from Christchurch and we arrived at the hostel just after lunch. Thankfully the hostel was nice, probably the nicest o...