Thursday 28th - Arrived in Christchurch today. Am staying at Chester Street backpackers which is a small hostel not far from the centre. The guide says only an eight minute walk, but with a very big and heavy rucksack it took me at least twice that. Didn't do much today as I only got to the hostel about 5pm and its raining. Went and found an internet cafe and downloaded the rest of my Kaikoura photos. Then went back to the hostel. Watched Australian Idol which was crap and then ordered a Pizza Hut. Had an early night cos I was quite tired. Got woken up at one in the morning by the two other people in my room arriving (they had a late flight). Then had a crap nights sleep because the bed wasn't comfortable and the bloke was snoring like a pig! Friday 29th - Got up early - 8am!!! and decided to book into another hostel. Chose the Frauenreisehaus Women's Hostel as this was the only way to ensure I didn't have to put up with stinky snoring blokes. Lucy, the other person in my room came with me as she didn't think much of the hostel either. The hostel was really nice, a lovely garden with flowers, herbs, hammocks etc, a really big kitchen that was fully equiped, two sitting areas, internet and tv lounge with a massive collection of videos and dvds (her video film collection almost rivals mine! I have a lot more dvd's though). It was a really nice hostel with a great atmosphere. We were the only British people there. The vast majority were either Japanese or German. Couldn't be bothered to do much so just sat in the lounge watching videos. Did eventually get off my ass in the afternoon when it had stopped raining and went for a walk around Christchurch. Went to Cathedral Square which was very pretty and then followed the River Avon around to the Botanical Gardens. By the river it does really look like Stratford (like Adam said). The gardens were beautiful and the river ran through them. I saw several people being punted down the river. The 'punters' were all dressed up in straw hats and 1920's clothes. It was really nice. Christchurch is an ace place with a really chilled atmosphere. In the evening me and Lucy went to a pub by Cathedral Square for some food. I had steak and chips and it was lovely. Was too tired to stay out so went back to the hostel and watched a video! Saturday 30th - Had a very good sleep and a long lie in. Went to ask Sandra (the hostel owner) if she knew of any jobs. She said in about a month she would have an evening receptionists job - 15 hours in exchange for free accomation. It sounded good. Watched some films then went with Lucy into town. We went to the Southern Encounter Aquarium. It was only tiny, but had seahorses, loads of fish (obviously), and a big tank with little sharks and two big rays. While we were there a guy in a wetsuit climbed in to feed them, so we watched until we got bored. One of the rays wouldn't leave him alone, and practically attached itself to him - it looked a bit like he was wearing a cloak. There was also a kiwi enclosure there. It was quite big, and dark (they're nocturnal), but the kiwis were just in the corner by the door where it was darkest and they were hard to see. They were quite big and fluffy with a long thin beak - they are very cute. When back to the hostel and watched another video and then got ready to go out. I actually straightened my hair, put on makeup and a going out top! We first went for food to a bar/restaurant on Oxford Terrace. I had fish (blue cod) and chips. The Kiwis dont know how to cook decent chips - they always taste underdone. After that we went to a pub/club. It was pretty good, they played cheesy 80's music and lots of people were dressed up (celebrating Halloween early). When The Proclaimer's 'I would walk ??? miles' came on everyone started cheering and dancing like mad - it was very strange. Had quite a few drinks and left about 1.30am.