After a 4.15am wake up call, 2 bleary eyed and somewhat hungover people were collected by taxi from Bernie's for the drive to the airport.

We woke to torrential rain, a good day to leave perhaps. Anyway, upon arrival at the airport we endured the most incompetent service to date on this trip and had to wait for what seemed like an age to check in for our flight. When we eventually got through we had an uneventful wait for the plane and eventually took off more or less in time.

The flight was just over 3 hours long and the views as we caught our first glimpses of NZ were pretty spectacular. Picture pristine sandy beaches closely followed by snow dusted mountains against a bright blue sky, contrasting dark brown against the green of the valleys below.

We landed to a sunny day and a temperature of 20 degrees which we had not been expecting. Sadly it took us forever and a day to clear immigration as the queues were so long. We always seem to end up in the queue with the people who can speak no English and who haven't completed the landing cards on board the plane...grrr!

When we eventually left the airport we travelled the short distance to the Copthorne Commodore hotel which I have to say is the nicest hotel we have stayed in so far. We were given vouchers for free drinks at the bar and were escorted to a lovely big room with a garden view.

First on the agenda was a trip to the gym, which was actually pretty well equipped for a hotel gym. We then went for a swim in the indoor heated pool which was like stepping into a warm bath, lovely....

That night we had a nice meal in the hotel and didn't actually venture into Christchurch after being advised that it is still a bit of a no go area following the earthquake. We were asleep by 9.30 and didn't wake until 9am, cracking nights sleep!