Howdey Bloggers!

I'm in Christchurch!.... (Newzealand)...

First off though i'll give you the low down on our final week in Australia!... As most of you will know we drove from Sydney to Melbourne (with an over night stop inbetween as it's miles away!) to meet up with Sal and Mike.

Once in Melbourne we spent the first day have a butchers at things the four of us could do together and trecking through town looking for the lesser spotted UGG Boot! Nat and Kirst where after a pair and i had promised to try and sort it out and post some back... as the Oz winter is pretty much over they have all dissapeared into hibernation!... once i found them they where unfortunately a bit more than i'd originally quoted.... Sorry Nat and K - i just left it too late in the end! Sorry! - but do check out the uggstore website i found - they are cheap on there!

anyhoo - once Sal and mike got there we spent the first afternoon in the Spa at our campsite! - yes.... we are Flashpackers!... that evening we went over to Sals old school friends for sunday roast.... twer bloody lovely!

The next day we started out on the great ocean road... this is a great road that runs along the coast... strangly! - there are numerous lookouts and things to see... too many to mention right now!

s*** times out - i'll finish up later!

Right we'l carry on, in an overview the Great Ocean Road was brilliant, we walked around a lighthouse, came up close and personal with wild Koalas and Kangaroos, saw a blow hole which was about 300m inland from sea, walked along the tallest and highest canopy walk in Otway Rainforest - this was really good but scary at times as the huge steel frame was rocking in the wind!!

We decided to jack in sleeping in the campervan for the last few nights as mum and mike offered us such a good deal on the cabins that we couldn't refuse - thanks!! So we've been living in luxury for the past week, eating well and sleeping in temperatures above 5 degrees... We also went to various viewpoints along the way including the 12 Apostles which were pretty spectacular. All in all we had a brilliant week finishing up in Melbourne city and seeing the sites including our first IMAX film and 360 degree view of the city from the top of the eurieka tower...it were right high!!

We're now in New Zealand staying in Christchurch, we arrived yesterday and spent the day doing free stuff like visiting the botanical gardens, art galleries, museums etc. Strangely the hostel we're staying in is on Worcester road so look out for that pic! Today we went on a trip to some hot pools up in the mountains, they were sulphur heated and 40 degree (the sulphur ones stunk of eggy weg!). We had a good time and the day ended with a blizzard of snow - so perhaps we need to buy water proofs now!!

We've also just paid for all our travel in New Zealand, we went for a 20 day ish - hop on hop off type thing so we're off at 8am tomorrow morning....also exciting is we've booked a really cheap 3 day boarding trip up in the mountains near Queensland. This includes 3 day lift pass, gear hire, clothinh hire and 2 night accomodation - a snatch at only 105 quid...

Paul - Unfortunatley I had to remove my lip ring, as it went FCUK'd up, I took it out in Perth about 2 months ago.... thats amazing that the hound won a dog competition, I always knew he was destined for big things....b******s or no b******s!

Mum and Mike - we just wanted to say a huge thanks for our week with you, it was a great experience and you really did treat us to lots of things, accomodation, cakes, tea etc... We hope your having a fun 2 weeks in Melbourne without us and the flight home is ok xxx

Shout out to wayne pops for the 120 dollars as predicted they came in handy, while we're on the note thanks to nan and grandad and Kerry and Ian for your donation - it will come in very handy!!

Louise - I've sent you an email, have you got it? hope you had a nice hol...

Lots of love, gem and wes xxx