I knew I was going to like New Zealand when the flight attendant gave me 2 bottles of wine with my meal "in case I got thirsty". Checkied in and waited for Nick to arrive, as he was on a different flight. We got a good vibe about Christchurch straight away, despite our apartment being next to all the nightclubs!

We went up the gondala for a great view of Christchurch.

We booked to go swimming with dolphins in a place called Akaroa, something quite unique as these Hector dolphins are only found here in the world. We got our thick wetsuits on as the water was only 15 degrees C not the tropical waters I am used to. The boat captain and guide spotted an active pod and we slid into the water-refreshing! The visability was terrible, about 2 metres, and we were advised to sing into our snorkels to attract the dolphins. I could only think of the carol "little donkey...little donkey, on a windy road" substituting the word donkey with dolphin. However stupid we sounded didn't matter, as when they swam past to see what all the racket was about we really did squeal with excitement! It was great, I was a little concerned about the Orcas (killer whales) that had been spotted in the area recently, seeing a dolphin coming towards you at a fair speed is thrilling enough thankyou!

After a hot shower and a look around Akaroa, we headed back to Christchurch for a well deserved curry.