Finally escaping from Jail (no, still not real jail) tomorrow. Well for a week anyways. :D Then, I have three days back there before I leave Christchurch until the next time I'm in New Zealand. It's sad, but I've spent the best part of 7 months here so it's time to go. So tomorrow I'm off to Queenstown, where I'm spending two nights, then I'm off to Milford Sound (not that I'm actually going on a cruise or anything because I did that in November, but I'm still g...

So, once again I find myself in Paihia, Bay of Islands, the first place in New Zealand I stayed at outside of Auckland. Seems to me that I've come full circle. :) I've had a hectic few days recently, and now I am all good and ready to chill out... and really I'm in the perfect place for it. Paihia is as pretty as I remember it being, and this time I have the twin benefits of the weather being nicer and me being here for longer (although no Stephanie :( ). The t...

I'm pretty sure Wellington is my favourite city in New Zealand. I love it here, and would quite happily live here for a while if it wasn't so far away. Of course I'm off to Auckland on the bus tomorrow but that's not the point. Sooo.... exciting things that have happened to me in Wellington: I visited Te Papa (on many occasions), and on one occasion was lucky enough to attend a talk given by Phillipa Boyens, who some of you may know as one of the principal scr...

Hello from Crayfish Meal (also known as Kaikoura)! The sun is shining, the sky is blue, I've broken out of Jail, and it's just as well I wasn't planning on doing any activities here (lack of funds) as it's windy as anything and they've all been cancelled. Massive thanks to everyone at Jailhouse for the last three and a half months, They've been a little crazy at times, and not always all that happy (hey, remember the time I got food poisoning and was a very sick...

Of all of the New Zealand cities I've visited so far, Christchurch has struck me as a bit of an oddity. A couple of reasons for this really... - They call it the "most English of cities", and I suppose it is in some ways with its cathedral and lazily meandering river, but beyond that Christchurch strikes me as being quite American. The streets are all laid out in a very American fashion, and the street signs and traffic lights all look American. And th...