I'm in Greymouth on the West Coast of the South Island and there isnt a great deal to do here so its an ideal time to do my blog..

Flying over from Melbourne to New Zealand was great. As I approached NZ I could see Mount Cook (NZ's highest mountain) from the window. I was lucky to have gotten a window seat with extra leg room and the view from where I was sat was terrific. You could see the snow on the peak which was poking through above the clouds. I got some cool pics of it and will put them up when I find the time..

After getting two buses from the airport and across town I arrived at my hostel. I stayed outside of central Christchurch in the New Brighton area, right next to the sea. The area is pretty bland with not a lot going on, a local shopping mall, a Woolworths and a pier and library as well as some bars and cafes dotted around. I took a wander up to the pier and got chatting to a couple of local lads who were hanging out. They were dead friendly and sports mad and were asking me which sports I enjoy. I had to disappoint them and tell them that I'm not into sport - at all. They seemed surprised! I walked along the pier and watched some people fishing off the end of it. They even have little washers on the pier that you use to wash away the fish guts after you've filleted your catch.

That evening was spent cooking yet another curry at the hostel. I need to get more imaginative with my evening meals but curry always satisfies! I was pleasantly surprised to find that the TV in the hostel had a 50 inch screen - result! I found a copy of Spirited Away lying around so watched that before turning in for the night.

Next day I went into town and had a wander about. The thing that first struck me about Christchurch is just how English it looks, the residential streets and the city centre in particular look just like back home. It's apparently New Zealands most English city which isnt surprising. That evening I went to watch Edge of Darkness at the flicks, I've lost count of just how many films I've watched at the cinema since I've been away!

The following day it rained solidly for most of the day so I opted to do nothing and go nowhere for the day. I had a bit of luck that day in as much as a guy who was occupying the double bed in my room left which freed up the bed. I've missed stretching out in bed and am bored of bunk beds! I slept like a king that night and didnt want to get up the next day!

My last day in Christchurch was spent walking through the rather impressive botanical gardens followed by a walk round the museum. The museum had tons of Maori carvings as well as old stone tools and traditional ceremony robes. Also at the museum is Fred and Mrytle's Paua Shell House. Fred and Mrytle were an old couple who lived right at the bottom of the South Island in a town called Bluff. Fred started to collect Paua shells, large blue seashells. He used to shine the shells and leave them around on the floor in his wifes way. She told him she couldnt get the hoover around and asked him to move them out of the way. He hung the shells on the living room wall and kept hanging them on there. This went on for years and the result was that their entire living room ended up covered in shells. The living room also contains lots of other Kiwi culture items as well as garden gnomes and a pond, stuffed deer and a crocodile walking stick stand. Most people would call it 'tat' I suppose, ha ha. Their house became a national attraction and they opened it to the public in the 80's. After the couple passed away about 10 years ago, their house was brought from Bluff and rebuilt inside the museum in Christchurch. I wasnt expecting to stumble on a house inside a museum! It's totally bizarre walking round inside it while cheesy organ music is played. (Fred played the organ) You have to see it to believe it, its well wacky!

That evening I went to the cinema again to watch The Wolfman, nice and bloody and very entertaining!

The following day I caught my bus out of Christchurch and wish I had done so sooner instead of wasting so much time in a city. The scenery was amazing once I had left the city, green sweeping hills and mountains in all directions. I journeyed 3 hours up to a little fishing town on South Coast of the South island called Kaikoura. As soon as I had arrived at the hostel I topped up on water and set off on a 4 hour hike around the Kaikoura peninsula. I stopped at a seal colony on my way up there and got some really good close up shots of them just basking on rocks as they do. I continued on my walk up onto and around the clifftops and coastline and after getting lots more pictures of the scenery I found myself on the other side of the peninsula. It's quite a walk! I headed back to where I was staying via an overland path that cuts across the peninsula. As luck would have it, it led me out straight in front of a pub. I felt like the thirtsy guy in the desert who see's the oasis. Except he didnt have to pay $6 for a beer! Still, it tasted like the beer of the year as I was so tired and thirsty.

That evening was spent in the front garden of the hostel with some of the other guests drinking a few beers and chatting. The couple who run the hostel also put on a barby for $5 a head so I had a good feed for next to nothing too. The hostel was really nice, it used to be the towns old post office but has since been converted to backpacker accomodation in more recent years. I had booked a bed in the 'Turkish dorm' over the internet and was wondering exactly what was so Turkish about it. I was pleased to discover that it didnt smell like a kebab shop, in fact it smelt more like a hamster cage instead which was odd.. The turkish aspect of the room was that the beds were like little wooden booths with curtains around them, a lot different than the bunk beds that I've gotten used to recently.

The next day in Kaikoura I chatted to Ciara online for a few hours as we only get to speak to each other once a week now. Bit of a difference from when we were travelling together! It was really good to catch up with each other again.

The rest of the day was spent just chilling really. I had a wander and then went back to the hostel where I spent the evening chatting and drinking with Ben and Katie who run the hostel and some of the other guests.

The following morning I was up early and raring to go as I had booked a fishing trip for my last day in Kaikoura. The guy who runs the fishing trips, Gerard, 40 years in the business, was recommended to me by a guy I met in Chrstchurch. I walked to Gerards house and we set out. We were towed in the boat on a trailer by Nick, Gerards skipper who only has one leg (bitten off in a shark attack so I was told) and all the ends of his fingers missing. Proper fisherman! By this point other people had joined us and there was now about seven of us on the boat. Firstly we went out to Gerards crayfish pots. He spotted the float and we pulled up alongside it, wound the rope round the winch and pulled it up. There were 10 or so crayfish in the pot as well as a squid. Nick got the squid out and pulled part of its head off (presumably the beak) before throwing it on the floor of the boat. I felt a bit sorry for it! It tried wrapping its tentacles round my leg while it was down there too. Nick said they eat the crayfish and are basically a pest so he was going to throw it overboard for the seals to eat, which he did later on. The crayfish were put into a large tub and we carried on.

Next we headed a bit further out where we tried some rod fishing. I sunk my line and weights all the way to the bottom and then slowly wound it up a little until I had a bite after only 30 seconds! I caught an orange perch, my first ever catch. I caught another two of the same on my next try as I had two hooks on one line. A woman on the other side of the boat caught a two foot dog shark which took a good bit of effort to reel in. It thrashed around on the floor of the boat until Nick took its head off with his knife. The woman looked a little shocked as did a few others. Well they are fishermen, thats what they do! At this point I started to feel a bit queasy what with the motion of the boat on the ocean and the previous nights beer but managed to keep my breakfast down. A Chinese kid who was with his dad looked like he was turning greener by the minute!

The group managed to catch another 6 or seven fish and after throwing them in the tub with the rest of the days catch, we headed over to a spot about 300m out from the beach up the coast to where about 50 or so dusky dolphins were. We pulled up and banged on the hull to attract them. Sure enough they came alongside the boat and were diving in and out of the water, they looked amazing! I got some really cool shots of them too. They cleared off so we followed them, tapped on the hull again and this time they put on more of a show, doing backflips. A French girl on the boat decided she wanted to get in the water and swam with them. After everyone had got plenty of pictures we headed back to shore where Nick filleted all of the catch and we split it up between the group. I managed to get a sizeable piece of shark meat as well as quite a bit of fish. We were each given a crayfish to take home too! My crayfish put up a bit of a fight when I tried to get him into a carrier bag, I think he knew it was the end!

The fishing trip was loads of fun and great value for money. A dolphin cruise will set you back around $100 and a whole crayfish in a restaurant will cost you around $85 so to get to see dolphins and come away with a shedload of fresh fish for $70 was brilliant. I caught a lift back to Gerards house where he very kindly offered to boil everyones crayfish in his pot in the back yard. I could see that I might have another struggle on my hands getting my little guy from the carrier bag to the pot so was glad when Gerard volunteered to do the deed for me. Plus I've never boiled any large creatures so wasnt sure if I could do it, ha ha! I ended up with way more meat than I could eat and I was due to leave the next morning so I shared my catch with Ben and Katie and another guest at the hostel.

The fun bit was preparing the crayfish. After snapping off the legs and eating the meat inside them (so sweet!) I started to get at the main bulk of the meat which is in the tail. The front end of the fish is all guts and mushy organs which I found out the hard way when I pulled its head off and it all came dripping out with goo everywhere! I cracked all the good meat out of the tail and diced it all up. I cooked up the shark and other fish with some red onions and a green pepper, marinaded it all in sweet Thai chilli sauce and served it up with the cold crayfish and some rice. I also had a nice bottle of white wine which Gerard gave me as he didnt have $10 change. One of the best meals I've had in ages. Well, since the last time I ate crayfish two weeks ago anyway, ha ha

The rest of the evening was spent out in the garden of the hostel drinking my wine and chatting with other guests. A few of us could play instruments so out came the guitars and a tom tom drum. Me, not being musical in the slightest settled for shaking a plastic egg filled with rice. I think I played quite well. I finished all the wine as you do and crashed out about 1ish and then got back up and out for 7am to catch my bus the next day, not my brightest idea!

So the next morning I caught my bus to Nelson but I'll leave that for next time, you have enough to read for now! Ta ta!