Well as per usual, the plan of leaving Australia in good time faltered at the last minute. Why is it that several glasses of wine makes you believe that you can wake up at 6 in the morning and pack your bag with enough time to get the bus? Every time it happens but I never learn. Still luckily for me the bus from Kings Cross to Sydney was a little late and I made it to the Airport on time and caught my flight to Christchurch. So country number 11.....what's it all about.

Well firstly, this place is cold and I'm starting to regret wishing for some winter weather while I was in Bali. I'm regretting even more the fact that I chucked out all my warm winter gear while I was in India. Mofo. Still Cest la vie, as this place is awesome. Brrrrr! My first 3 days were spent in Christchurch which is termed the most "English" city in New Zealand. I can't deny that I felt totally at home there straight away but this was mainly because of the sheer amount of Brits there. This was for the Rugby game going on of course which promised a good night in the pub on Saturday night. I spent the first day wondering around looking at Job opportunities. My room mates were all pretty cool so I added the fact that no head cases seem to travel here as a bonus. I found out on the Saturday that some tickets were still available for the All Blacks V England game so I high tailed it over there and managed to get centre seats for 25 pounds. Get in. What I didn't realise was that these were right in the middle of all the All Blacks supporters. So imagine if you will one white shirt amongst all the others and that was me. Nice. Still they were a pretty good laugh or should I say they had a good laugh at me after our performance. Enough said! Perhaps the weirdest part of the evening was the pre match show which was a musical rendition of the Battle of Britain. OK...seriously, could there be a weirder subject for a musical? After a few fly passes and the singer belting out some wartime classics it all finished and the game started. We needed the Blitz spirit though after that shocker of a game.

Anyway after 3 days in Christchurch it was time to move on and head to Dunedin which is a proper student town. My hostel was awesome and filled with some interesting characters which made me realise that actually there's no getting away form these people. I also had possibly the most embarrasing moment of the whole trip happen to me there. I was sitting in the common room reading the LP and making some plans when a guy comes up to me and asks where the toilets are which I pointed out to him. When he returned I realised that in fact this man was a woman! ARgggggghh. Luckily she hadn't noticed while in the lav and I thought I managed to get away with it. Later however her and her mate headed to the toilet and upon hearing a loud scream we all turned round to see what happened. Evidently they had walked in on a half naked guy taking a shower. All I heard was "....oh...i'm terribly sorry.....please excuse me" and I knew it was time to make myself scarce. I hid in my room for the rest of the night and successfully managed to avoid them for the rest of my stay. Anyway, Dunedin was a really nice town and boasts among other things a museum, art galleries and the worlds steepest street. Yes people, Baldwin street in Dunedin is a tourist spectacle. Somehow I managed to avoid the temptation of scaling this massive feat but I took a photo for you guys. I hope you appreciate it. I spent the rest of my time chilling at the hostel and watching among other things....Bottom. Turns out that the owner is a fan of Richie and Eddie's antics so we had a great laugh. All good things come to an end however and it was soon time to head to Wanaka.

Wanaka is again an awesome place save for the eco fascists. Seriously I've never seen anything like it. At our hostel we have at least 7 different bins for all kinds of waste and notices up to make sure we comply with the recycling. It's hilarious as the whole hostel is powered with electric heaters and the lights are on all day so there dedication only goes so far. At the supermarket though a woman ticked a box as I walked past as I had a plastic bag and I suffered her wrath.....a look of disdain to which she gave full force. Well I'm sorry I have a plastic bag love but I am going to re-use it so don't judge me man, get a life"! While I agree with the cause I reckon it's a bit overboard. Perhaps the eco gestapo will be on my case now. I'll stop talking. Anyway apart from the eco police Wanaka is really nice. Today I had a walk around the lake which took a good 4 hours and the scenery was awesome. Have a look at the photo's. I spent the chief of the afternoon trying to take pictures of myself jumping by the lake. I couldn't get the timing right though and I now have a succession of pictures that look like I'm about to go to the toilet in the lake. Not what I was goign for but funny. So I have another day here and i'm goign to climb Mt Iron. Nice!

So the work situation isn't looking good and to be honest I'm not really that bothered. I've decided that I'm not going to bother and instead I'm going to stayin NZ until my budget runs out and then head on over to the states in line with my new financial plan. See below

NO hostels over $25 and dorms only

Pasta and Pesto and maybe beans on toast

Return to Student financial planning, namely Credit card and overdraft.

Sub of the day! $3.90 for a six inch sandwich and loads of salad. Bargain!

So by this plan I should be able to travel until early September.....bring it on. If all else fails there's always prostitution and that should bring n a few bob. Maybe i'm overestimating here???

Anyway until next time me julies

Adios