Bonjour my friends! Well to be honest i am lost for words! We arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand on Sunday afternoon after eventually managing to catch our flight! Christchurch is a lovely town situated in the larger district of Canterbury on the South Island. Its such a pretty little town with some amazing shops and cafes. We dumped our bags in the hostel that we were staying at and had a little look around the town. We couldnt believe how quiet it was, it seems that people in NZ observe the traditional Sunday trading laws and respect it as a day of rest as it was like walking around a ghost town! We took a visit around Christchurch Cathedral which was lovely however it seemed a little feeble compared to our spectacular Cathedrals at home. It also seemed a little strange to enter the holy house by an electric door! How odd! We then ventured further into town and came across the Botanic Gardens whcih were just about to close so we looked around the arts gallery instead, which had some very impressive (and very expensive!) pieces. We grabbed a bite to eat at a little cafe before watching some TV back at the hostel, it was then bedtime for the two weary travellers! The next day we awoke to fantastic blue sky, the weather wasnt too cold either which was comforting. We headed into town again as we wanted to go on the towns tram whcih dates back to 1903. The carriage was beautiful, it had been restored to perfection and i almost felt i was back the 1900's if it wasnt for the amount of traffic whizzing past! We stopped off at the Botanic Gardens and had a wander around, it felt so much like England on those sunny winter days, the gardens even had a large proportion of Oak trees! We then stopped off for a coffee before visting the local arts centre that has numerous local handi-crafts on offer, my favourite without a doubt was the Fudge Kitchen, oh i felt like i was in heaven!!! The last part of the day was definately the creme de la creme! We caught a bus to the Gondola station (cable cars) and ventured high up into the mountains. The views were absolutely breathtaking, we had a 360 degree view of Christchurch and beyond. There is a restaurant at the top of the mountain ad we shared a pot of 'Earl' whilst watching the sunset, it was amazing. So as you can imagine i have only been here for 2 days and i have fallen in love with the place! The pictures dont lie, New Zealand is absolutely gorgeous. Today we caught a bus from Christchurch to Queenstown which was a 7 hour bus ride but it was the best journey i have had so far. We were allowed to get out at various spots to take photos and to tell the truth i have never been so captivated by the scenary. We stopped a lake (Lake Tekapo) with a small church perched on a hill, and the back drop was, well, look at the picture that accompanies this entry as that is where i was standing today! I think we are going to do a sky dive tomorrow so i will update you, if i manage to jump out of the plane that is, aarrgghhh!!! Thats all for now folks, Sara xxxxxxxxx