I left Queenstown quite early on a bus with a not so welcoming driver. First of all he just stared at my ticket when I held it out to him as I was getting on the bus. He looked at it as though he had never seen one before. He never took it, he just said one word ... name? I told him it and then he pointed for me to sit down. I sat down and thought how good Josh had been he was always welcoming and friendly, lively and funny on the microphone, not like this one. Anyway it was a long and pretty boring journey to Christchurch. It was raining all the way there and we arrived at about 4pm. The driver did explain about Christchurch and how it is after the earthquake. As we got closer to the city centre we could see the effects of it. Gaps between buildings where other buildings used to be and half fallen down / collasping buildings. I was the first one to be dropped off at my accomodation. Everywhere was quite full and the only place that had a bed for two nights was the YMCA! So thats where I stayed. I wasnt quite sure what to expect but I turned out to be pleasantly suprised. I was in a very nice 6 beddorm on the 4th floor. I made my tea in their tiny kitchen and went to my room.

The next morning I went exploring. Alot of the buildings next to the YMCA were closed from the earthquake and the arts centre opposite was fenced off. At the end of the road the CBD started which is all closed off. I walked around and looked through the fences. You could see workmen and machines slowly dismantling buildings. There were no shops nearby so I kept walking in the direction the bus had come the day before. I walked the whole way around the South Park and it is a pretty big park until I eventually came to a row of shops. They were small shops but better than nothing, it had taken me over an hour to get there. I found an internet cafe and spent an hour in there before walking back to the YMCA as there wasnt really anything else to do. I chilled out in my roomfor a bit, cooked tea, had a shower and went to bed.

The next day I had to walk to meet the kiwi bus in the opposite direction to where I went the day before. I went a bit early hoping there might be something to see or do there, so I set off with my big bags. It took me about half an hour to get there and when I did there was nothing there, even Burger King was closed so I sat at the bus stop and waited. I met 4 guys and a girl also waiting for the kiwi bus. The driver this time was Lauren and she was lively, friendly and very welcoming. Much better! She told us that at 5:30pm the night before there was a small earthquake. Some people said they felt it. I hadnt. I would have been in my room at the time so maybe it was too small to detect from the 4th floor.

From now it was simply making my way back to Auckland with a series of one night stops. First Kiakoura, second catching the ferry to Wellington, third Taupo and finally back in Auckland. I met up with Ray, Mike, Cat, Alex, Alice and Georgie in Wellington and Taupo so that was nice to see them.

In Auckland I did the free city tour with Kiwi experience. First we went to the harbour bridge where we did a bridge walk out to the middle where some people did a bungy jump. We walked along a narrow pathway under where the cars drive. We were attached to the bridge by a belt and cord and were given a hard hat. It was quite windy walking along the path and you could see the sea below you as the path was see through. After people had completed their bungy jumps we walked back. We then drove across the harbour bridge to visit Devonport. There we went up two volcanoes. The first one called North Head used to be an old fort used in defence in the wars. It has lots of tunnels built into the hillside and we walked down some of them. We also saw some of the big cannon type guns that were used to defend the city from attack. The next one was Mount Victoria. We went up there just to see the view as they're arnt any tunnels on there. You could see the sky tower and sky scrapers across the water perfectly. We had lunch in a fish and chip shop before having a look around the devonport shops. It was then time to go back to our hostels.

So that is the end of New Zealand for me. It has been really amazing and Ive made a nice group of friends along the way. Next stop Australia!!