Bikes and Tents

It's hard to believe that it'll be 2008 in only a few hours. This year has flown by - what with several holidays, getting our visas, quitting our jobs at the end of June, packing up everything we own, saying goodbye to just about everybody we know, and moving to the far side of the world, we have managed to squeeze quite a lot in. Skry and I have had a lot to contend with in our first year of marriage! But it has all worked out well despite the stressful parts, and I don't think either of us would have done a single thing differently (apart from choosing Pickford's as our shipping company. That bit we'd definitely change).

The last few days have been quiet, in the lull between Christmas and the New Year. The weather's been great, but, due to Skry's broken toe which he picked up during the Christmas Day football match, we haven't been going far from the house. He's a lot better now and is able to walk for short distances without limping, but any strenuous physical activity is beyond him at the moment. We did go window-shopping for bicycles yesterday, and can pick up new bikes in K-Mart for about $200 each, so we'll probably pick those up before long. Christchurch is very flat and looks perfect for cycling, although I'm not sure how good the cycle lanes are. That remains to be seen.

We also bought a full price dome tent ($200), and self-inflating sleep mats ($70 each) and folding camp chairs that are also rocking chairs ($20 each) in the Boxing Day sales. Skry just needs a sleeping bag (I already got one - $100) and we're pretty much set to go camping without having to borrow anything from Phil and Lou. The campsites that we saw on our last trip were of a high standard and good value, so I'd say we'll definitely get good use from our new equipment. I also bought a body board ($40 on sale) so I'm sorted for the next time we go swimming. That'll be fun!

A Possum Problem

Possum fur presents me with a dilemma. It shouldn't be a dilemma - I am sure that it's not right to kill animals purely so we can wear their fur, and I wouldn't dream of buying new fur at home. But possum fur is the Softest Thing Ever. Possums are pests here - they litter the roadside as roadkill, and the government seems to be encouraging people to kill them, but they also provide fur that goes into some of the softest hats, scarves, and jumpers that I've ever felt. The possums are skinned and somehow the fur is removed and combined with merino wool to make knitted goodies. Straight-up possum fur is also used for trimmings on hats and bags and that sort of thing, as well as some less practical items of clothing, and the hides are sold intact for some purpose that I can't imagine. Apparently it is the only fur known to man, apart from that of polar bears, which doesn't freeze, so I bet it's lovely and warm too.

You can guess from all this that I really really really want something made out of possum fur, but I don't want a possum to die for me. Does anyone know of any fur farms where the fur is gently combed off the animals as they recline on velvet cushions eating choice nibbles and perhaps enjoying a relaxing massage?

A Christmas Day Barbecue

Today does not feel like Christmas Day at all. We have no decorations up, there is no Christmas music playing, nobody went to church, we didn't exchange presents, and it's roasting hot. This is all just too weird. I did phone home at lunchtime, and it was lovely to chat to everybody, but it feels like they're all getting Christmas this year and I'm not. It really is all very strange. My friends and family have been great - I got a phone call from Wendy and a few texts from people as well - but it feels like they're all in a different world at the moment.

Having said that, our world isn't bad at all. After a lie-in this morning, we did some prep for the barbecue and then went to the beach at New Brighton. A stroll on the pier blew all the cobwebs away, and we spent a while watching people attempt to surf before heading back to the house.
It wasn't long before the kebabs and sausages were sizzling on the grill while we basked in the sunshine (under a liberal coating of Factor 30 suncream). After a good feed, we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just lounging around and watching the occasional DVD. It wasn't the wildest of days, but it was good enough for our purposes!

A Christmas Eve Swim

Today we went to the beach, a nearby one called Taylor's Mistake (I have no idea why). It was quite small and sheltered, but the waves were fairly large and there were lots of people out surfing and body boarding. Phil and Lou both have body boards, so the three of us donned our swimsuits and took to the water. I had a few goes on Lou's board and ended up underwater more often than not, but it was surprisingly good fun and I will look out for one of my own next time we're out shopping.

The sun was very strong even at nearly 5pm, and I already got a bit burnt yesterday, so it wasn't long before I had to take refuge in the shade. It was a lovely warm evening still, so a few card games and DS games were played out in the back yard. The evening ended with two of the 10 DVDs that we rented out to watch over the next few days. New Zealand television really isn't up to much, and we don't have Sky, so DVDs are clearly the way to go as far as televisual entertainment is concerned.

Back to Christchurch

Today we headed back to Christchurch. We're spending the next week or so here, over the Christmas period, and will resume travelling sometime in the new year. I'll update when I can, but it's actually harder to get internet access now that we're not on a campsite. There is no available wireless network at Phil and Lou's place. But rest assured that we will be having a fun and relaxing time, and the weather is almost certain to be better than it is in Ireland at the moment :P

And just in case I'm not online again for a few days - Happy Christmas, everyone!!

Fiordland and Milford Sound

Today we were up at the crack of dawn, quite literally, to catch the 6.50am coach taking us to Milford. This was made slightly easier by the fact that it got really cold overnight and we were both sleeping quite lightly by the time the alarms went off, but was still not my ideal time to start the day. Nevertheless, we made it to the tour bus on time, and off we went. The first couple of hours were spent mostly sleeping, before we reached the really scenic parts, but after a breakfast stop in Te Anau (sp?) it wasn't long before we were winding through the mountains. The scenery really was spectacular, and we were happy to be in a coach which had a sloped floor, seats angled towards the windows on each side of the aisle, and glass panels in the roof. The view from inside was really good, and the driver stopped plenty of times on the way to let us take pictures of forests, mountains, glaciers, and lakes as still as mirrors. I will let those speak for themselves.

Once we got to Milford Sound at 1.15pm, it was time for the boat cruise. We were on a fairly small cruise boat which meant everyone had a good chance to look out from all sides, although we quickly learned not to lean out from the front because of the extremely high chance of getting smacked in the face by a sudden burst of spray. That is not generally recommended for digital cameras! The cruise took us out as far as the Tasman Sea, taking in waterfalls and fur seals basking on rocks, before heading back to the jetty again. It was a really enjoyable way to spend the afternoon.

The journey home was very quiet, with most people nodding off as we travelled, although we did break in Te Anau again for food and ice cream cones. I stayed awake the whole way back to Queenstown, and entertained myself by looking out at the herds of cattle and deer and the flocks of sheep in the fields. I knew that New Zealand had a lot of sheep, and suspected it had a few cattle as well, but I had no idea there were so many deer. Venison must be the up-and-coming thing, which is just fine with me because it's delicious. Sorry Bambi.

Queenstown

This morning we had breakfast in the communal kitchen in the Invercargill campsite and got chatting to a few other residents (some of which we had chatted to last night as well). There was a Canadian couple who are travelling pretty much the same route as us - we recognised them as they had been in the tent beside ours in Timaru - and an English couple who had just arrived from Queenstown. The English couple were particularly chatty and friendly, and we exchanged email addresses in the hope of meeting up on the North Island sometime in the new year. Even with all that chat, we were stil on the road quite early and heading for Queenstown. The first part of the drive was quite boring, and the scenery was very reminiscent of the Canterbury Plain, but it wasn't too long before we were driving through the mountains again. We stopped in a picnic area by a beautiful lake and ate last night's left-over pizza, and I sunned myself and drank in the view before getting back behind the wheel. There were so many gorgeous views at the top of every hill, but the roads were so twisting and hilly, and the drop to the lakeside was so steep and unprotected, that I couldn't really enjoy looking around myself unless the car was stopped, so we did pull in a few times. The weather had been changeable when we were leaving Invercargill, but by the time we got to Queenstown it had settled into a beautiful summer's afternoon, with hot sun and blue skies.

After getting settled in the Top 10 campsite in town (do you notice an accomodation theme for this trip?), which was dearer than other places at about $35/night, we took a walk and almost immediately noticed a gondola lift up the hill behind the site. For the sum of $21/person, this took us over 400m above Queenstown, and the views at the top were absolutely stunning. The blue lake in the centre is surrounded by mountains, still showing signs of snow even in this hot weather, and the town sprawls at the bottom with chalets rising on the mountainsides all around. I enjoyed the view, and Skry took advantage of the luge ride to slide down 800m of downhill track on what looked like a teatray. He said it was fun - I'll just have to take his word for it!

We had dinner at Little India, the local branch of an Indian restaurant chain, and I have to say that we don't be back to this chain in a hurry. We had dinner in the Chch branch a few nights after arriving there, and my butter chicken tasted like it was composed mostly of Heinz Tomato Soup. Lou's chicken tikka masala was similar but with extra spices added. And tonight our food was okay-to-bland, the service was very inattentive, and I suffered serious digestive problems for about an hour afterwards. Not good. They've lost our custom, anyway! Tomorrow we're off for a day-long trip to Milford Sound ($154/person for the coach and boat cruise), so the food will be strictly self-service, and we have stocked up on baguettes and salad. Should be safe, and less indigestion-causing! We also went for a quick walk by the lake, and were impressed by just how clear the water was. We got a great view of a duck having a poo, which was... interesting... and also had fun watching them dive to the bottom, or sleep bobbing on the surface. It was a lovely evening.

Invercargill

Having packed up our few things from the cabin in Dunedin, we hit the road again, this time for the Top 10 campsite in Invercargill. The journey down was fairly uneventful apart from two things. We stopped in Gore and I bought a new MP3 player which we'll be able to use for music in the car, and then we picked up an American hitchhiker on his way to Invercargill. He has been travelling around staying with people who have registered on Couch Surfing website - I don't know the URL and am not online as I write this, but I'm sure Google can locate the site if you're interested. The basic setup is that if you have a spare room or couch and are willing to let backpackers use it, you register it on the Couch Surfing website and people can arrange to come and stay. Of course you can use it the other way around too, like this guy was doing, for free accomodation and the chance to meet people you might not otherwise meet. It's a much more sociable way of travelling than just staying in campsites and only meeting other tourists. This American guy had just finished a couple of nights' stay with some Maori bloke who taught him lots about Maori culture and also took him snorkelling. That's pretty cool.

Invercargill is much bigger than I expected it to be. For some reason I was under the impression that it was a tiny town but it's actually quite large and sprawling. It has a couple of nice looking main streets and seems to be quite an interesting place, although we won't get the chance to see much of it in our one night here. The weather is great, blue skies and fluffy white clouds, so we made the most of it and headed down to Bluff, the most southerly point of the South Island. I posed for photos by the road sign with worldwide locations and distances (Skry thought it was completely cheesy, and he may be right, but I don't care), and we took a walk up a hill overlooking the lighthouse and what I assume is Stuart Island. It was a steep path and I was out of breath at the top, but it was worth it just to enjoy the view and the sunshine. On the way back from Bluff to the campsite, we called in to a pizza place called Hell Pizza. They have an unusual theme! They also have strange but useful boxes. At the start it looks just like a normal pizza box, but once you've eaten all you want of the pizza inside, you can push out the perforated sections of the box and assemble a coffin for your leftovers!

Dunedin still

After a very wet night - and feeling ever more grateful that we weren't stuck outside in the tent - we woke up to something in Dunedin that we hadn't seen before: sunshine! Pausing only long enough to cook ourselves some tasty and filling omelette for breakfast, we packed up maps and cameras and headed out for the day. Dunedin in the sunshine is a lot more pleasant than Dunedin in the pouring rain, that's for sure. Although the hills were just as steep, at least we had a good view over the city from the tops of them! It wasn't long before we were walking from the central Octagon down an extremely long street heading out of the city to the Botanical Gardens. We were very lucky to have such nice weather for a walk through the gardens, and we spent quite a long time enjoying the different areas such as the herb garden and the plants from different parts of the world. It was a pleasant surprise to see a sign in the herb garden suggesting that we pull off leaves to smell and/or taste the different herbs - back in the UK you probably would have been chucked out of the park for such a wanton act of vandalism! We also enjoyed walking up the higher areas of the gardens with a view over the city. It was fun to watch the cars away over on the far hill, seemingly driving straight up into the air. The streets here really are VERY steep, and I don't understand how anyone copes in snowy or icy weather.

After the gardens, we spent a good hour in the Otago Museum which was on our way back into town. As well as standard museum stuff, it had a really interesting maritime area, with models of different ships and a history of what they had been involved in, such as the evacuation from Dunkirk, which Skry really enjoyed. My favourite part was the Animal Attic, which is full of bones and stuffed animals laid out in the same style that the Victorians would have used. In fact a few of the mammals were suffering from faded fur because the Victorians had no lighting in the museum apart from the skylights, and the animal exhibit was right at the top so all the sunlight fell straight on them. It was only in later years that they blocked out the skylights, floored the central area of the building, and added artificial lighting. Anyway, the stuffed animals were interesting, disturbing, cute, disfigured, scary, or in some cases most of the above. I liked the lion best - I was crouching on the floor imagining that it was attacking me, and how scary that would be. Don't ask me why, but it amused me! From there, we made a quick trip to see the train station, which has a very ornately designed and tiled building (apparently Royal Doulton made the floor tiles for them) and then on for dinner.

Our last evening in Dunedin was spent watching films on the laptop in our cabin. We watched the most recent Harry Potter film and then the start of Ratatouille, and we're saving the rest of that for tomorrow because it was getting late. I'm so glad that I took the laptop with me, but we have watched nearly everything I have already. Time to join a film library!

Dunedin

Dunedin is very very hilly, and currently very very wet. After a very tasty cheese and onion toastie and cappuccino breakfast in Oamaru, I was back behind the wheel and heading directly for Dunedin, so as to maximise our time here. We did take a tiny detour to see the Moeraki Boulders, which turned out to be very boring round stones lying on a beach, but other than that it was a straight road all the way. The further south we got, the greyer the sky became, and before we reached Dunedin we were driving through a rainstorm which just did not let up. I was extremely glad of the automatic gears on the car when we got to the city itself, because navigating steep hills and busy junctions while there is water flowing down the road and the wheels just want to spin and aquaplane is more than enough to contend with, without having to worry about changing gears and not rolling backwards as well.

We headed straight for the Top 10 campsite, and thankfully were able to book a cabin ($48 - $4.80 discount = $43.20 for the night). This is no weather for putting up tents! We are now installed in a spacious cabin with double bed, desk, kitchen equipment, and a power plug, which is fantastic because we are able to charge up all our electronics. I'm having trouble with my MP3 player -- it seems to have locked itself out of USB charge mode, and I only have a USB charger for it -- but everything else will be powered up and ready to go by the time we leave here. The plan is to stay in Dunedin for two nights, but if the weather perks up tomorrow we'll go back to the tent. Time will tell.

The rain is still pouring down, so neither of us really wants to go outside, but it's well past lunchtime and we will have to brave it sooner or later to get food. I know there are buses that go in to the city centre from here, so at some point we'll have to change into warmer clothing (we arrived here in shorts and t-shirts, as befitted the hot weather further north) and go and see what's to be seen. Hopefully my next update will be a bit more exciting!

Oamaru

After packing the tent and loading up the cooler with baguettes and salad from Pak'n'Save for lunch, we hit the road by 10am and headed for Mount Cook. Not far outside Timaru, a hitchhiker with bulging rucksack was standing with their thumb out, so we stopped. It turned out to be a French girl on her way to Alexandra to start work as a berry picker. We took her as far as Lake Temuka, where we stopped for lunch. The lake was picture-perfect: vivid blue water surrounded by snow-capped mountains, with a foreground of beautifully scented wild lupins. Our picnic lunch in the sunshine went down a treat, and we were well refreshed by the time I got back behind the wheel.

Next stop was supposed to be Mount Cook, but after driving most of the way there and realising that we were driving into a rain cloud and visibility was next to nothing, we decided while only a few iles away that we'd be better off saving our petrol, so we turned around and headed for Oamaru. The whole region was very mountainous, with lots of lakes and dams down below, but I got a rude reminder to keep my eyes on the road rather than on the scenery. Coming down one steep and twisting cliff edge road, we saw an "Accident" sign, and very shortly after that the police, a fire engine, and a car and touring caravan. The caravan was upside down, the roof completely caved in and all the windows smashed, and the car had its windows broken and was also half way over the edge. Thankfully the occupants weemed to be fine - we could see them talking to the police - but it must have been terrifying. it certainly reminded me where my priorities should be.

Somewhat more sedately than before, we headed on, stopping for a coffee in one village and a photo op (straw bales with faces painted on them) in another, before finally reaching Oamaru and setting up camp. This time we remembered to buy a membership card ($30) earning us a discount on Top 10 bookings for the next two years, bringing the cost of the site to $25.

Oamaru on a Sunday evening is practically dead. Barely a person or car on the long main street, and most premises shut when we wandered out at 7pm. After a couple of drinks at a pleasant bar/restaurant called Fat Sally's, which was almost empty by the time we left, we called it a night and headed back to the tent. Oamaru is home to a penguin colony and there are daily viewings of the penguins coming and going, but we couldn't even be bothered to go and see them, which probably makes us terrible tourists. We did take some photos of this stone one, though. Many of the buildings here are made from a local yellow-coloured limestone, which is very pretty, and also very soft. The town was full of various limestone sculptures. But there is only so long you can spend looking at yellow stone before deciding to call it quits! We discovered that there was an empty kitchen with available plugs, so the two of us sat and watched the film 1408 on the laptop instead. Not touristy, but very entertaining all the same.

A quick update

My laptop battery is about to die, so you'll have to wait for an update on our trip to Oamaru. In the meantime, here is a sample of the scenery we saw en route. Since the internet does not yet have smell-o-vision, you'll just have to imagine the scent of all those lupins. Heavenly.

Timaru

After leaving Christchurch at about lunchtime, we packed up the Beast and took it for its first trip on the open road, arriving in the Top 10 Holiday Park in Timaru at about three. We paid $28 for a night's camping. The site is clean and well equipped, with a large communal kitchen and shower block just across the way from us (including a bath!) and a resident flock of ducks.

Timaru is the Bangor of New Zealand. A pretty seaside town with lots of cafe/wine bar type venues overlooking Caroline Bay and the port, it also has a large population of boy racers who seem to just drive up and down competing over who has the loudest exhaust, and the place was absolutely dead on a Saturday afternoon. It seems the town shuts down at two and people don't come out again until half ten. There was a beautiful rose garden, and a completely deserted funfair.

Tomorow we are off to Oamaru. It'll be a lot more driving than today, but we should see a lot along the way too!

Let's Go Shopping

Here's a little note about beer. There is an off-licence at the bottom of the street called The Mill, and it sells beer from taps. You just buy a refillable bottle the first time and then keep refilling it from the beer tap. Very environmentally friendly, and cheaper too, which is great for the beer drinkers in the house. You can tell from the frothy appearance of this one, which I poured for the photo, that I am not one of those! And no, I do not want a Flake with that, but thanks for asking.

Today it rained solidly the whole day, which didn't really bother us as we had things to do anyway. Straight after lunch we took the Beast to the nearest shopping mall to get some camping supplies. It was fun parking in a really busy carpark when I still don't really know where the edges of the car are! Phil and Lou are going to lend us their tent and assorted other useful items, but some things we need to buy for ourselves because the other two are still using theirs. We went to The Warehouse, which is a large Big W style shop with plenty of cheap and cheerful items on offer. We spent about $350 in total today but got plenty of things like melamine plates and glasses, saucepans and a frying pan, a sleeping bag for me (Skry is borrowing Phil's), flipflops -- or jandals, as I must learn to call them now -- and beach shoes, and a pair of pillows too. We may be camping and hostelling for most of the next while, but I still want a nice feather pillow! At least the Beast has such a huge boot that we can pretty much take whatever we need.

This evening we drove up to Stephen and Caroline's house to return the car that they lent us - technically their son Jason's car, I think, but he never drives it now as he has a four-wheel drive. It really was fantastic to be able to get mobile straight away before we had anything sorted out for ourselves, and I am also benefitting from their internet access right now. Quite apart from being lovely, they are also very useful people to know!

A change in the weather

It rained on and off for a lot of today, which is almost a relief after the blazing heat of the last couple of days. It's still very warm indoors, but at least the air outside has freshened up. Skry and I headed into town this morning to find a cybercafe. There are several in the centre of town that all charge about $3/hour to use their computers, but wireless seems less common. The one place that we found with affordable wireless access charged $6/hour to sit indoors and $5/hour to sit anywhere outside that was within range. We chose the latter, and spent the next hour on a park bench in a shady corner, taking turns on the laptop and watching the world go by. The world today is busy putting up Christmas decorations, it seems. I only had my mobile phone with me to take pictures, but I took a few snaps of the tram, the cathedral, and the Christmas tree in the process of being decorated. I'm well aware that we haven't done any sightseeing in Christchuch yet and I will rectify that, but these few days are for practicalities more than touring about.

After checking on any urgent email, updating bank account details, making credit card payments, and checking the news headlines, our 60 minutes was up, and my laptop battery was almost dead, so I didn't get to update my blog. This has led to a change of approach - I am going to write the blog entries as the mood strikes me, and upload everything at once whenever we have access.

While we were in town I also joined the city library, and we picked up a new SIM for Skry (which, annoyingly, doesn't work with his old Orange-locked handset), before enjoying a hearty lunch and heading back to Phil and Lou's. It's so handy that they are living within walking distance of the town centre - I don't have to attempt to park The Beast anywhere busy!

Four wheels good, two wheels bad.

We have our own wheels, at last! Yesterday we went on the hunt for a decent second-hand car. Our first, and as it turned out only, stop was at a place within walking distance from the cashel St flat, called $5k Corner. All the cars were $5k and under, which was perfect for our budget! After looking over the contenders, and making a difficult choice between three different saloons, we ended up selecting a 1994 Honda Rafaga (henceforth to be known as The Beast) with about 150,000km on the clock, which was on sale at $4490 when we arrived at the showroom, and eventually sold to us for $3990. I've never heard of that particular model, but it's a large saloon with a 2 litre engine, automatic gears, and tons of boot space - perfect for touring around and driving up twisty mountain roads! The only thing that didn't meet our list of requirements was the colour. We had wanted a silver car because that's the best option for not showing dirt, but ended up with a stylish navy blue instead. Oh well.

We were also very impressed with the salesman. He was pretty chuffed to have made a sale - he told us afterwards that he was going through a dry patch and hadn't sold anything for three weeks - but he was very good to us. We had to go and get money after we agreed to buy the car, and headed off on foot, and he chased after us and offered to loan us his own little car until we had gathered up enough cash to pay for the new one. He also chased after us once the deal had been done, to return an extra $10 that we had paid by mistake. We would never have noticed, so that was pretty cool.

Getting enough money to pay for the car was a bit of a trial. Without any money in our NZ bank account, we have to withdraw money from the ATM every day, and the maximum for any one 24 hour period is $700. Luckily Skry and I both have cards for our joint account, and he was able to withdraw money from his personal account too, so it only took us two days to gather up all the cash for the car. The salesman was a bit taken aback to be presented with a huge pile of twenties, I think! But he got it all counted up in the end and the car was ours. It only took me about 30 seconds to have another driver beeping their horn at me, because just after pulling out of the garage I forgot that I was driving an automatic and attempted to change gear, resulting in the car stopping dead in the middle of the road (I mistook the brake for a non-existent clutch), but luckily no harm was done and I learned a valuable lesson, which was to keep my left leg tucked back under the seat from now on!

Oh, and yes, that is rain on the car. It wasn't raining today, but it was raining tomorrow when I wrote this blog entry, and also the day after tomorrow when I posted it. Today was actually really hot and sticky.

Swimming in December

It's only a couple of weeks until Christmas, but today we went swimming in a nearby river. Well, I say nearby - that is only in New Zealand terms, because it is miles and miles away, but everything is so far apart here that people think nothing of driving 45 minutes to the nearest supermarket. We had to take a 34km detour to Rangiora on the way back from the river today just to get ingredients for tonight's dinner, because that was the closest place to get them!

Anyway, we went in a convoy of four vehicles to Ashley Gorge, which is a river gorge surrounded by beautiful, lushly forested mountains. Skry, Lou, and I went with two of the kids to a swimming hole beside the river, while the rest of them went fishing. The swimming hole we were at was pretty small, so there wasn't much to do except splash around, but it was lovely to be out in the sunshine. At one point a couple in a 4x4 drove past and yelled something rude-sounding out the window. We were much amused to see them, ten minutes later, stranded in the middle of the river they had been attempting to drive along! It took them a good half hour of revving, splashing, and putting the bonnet up and down, before they could get out.

Tonight the two of us made dinner for Stephen and Caroline, our fantastic hosts. They barely know us, but they picked us up from the airport, opened up their house to us, fed us and watered us, introduced us to people, and lent us a car for as long as we need one. Stephen is taking us to a second-hand car dealership tomorrow, so we should have our own before too long, but it was great to be able to borrow one. Our first week in this new country would have been so much harder without the two of them and the kindness and generosity that they and their family have shown us. I know they did the same for Phil and Lou when they arrived here, and we really do owe them a great deal. After dinner Caroline took us for a quick spin down the road to see a house that has been very well decorated for Christmas. It certainly was nice, and very tastefully done, but how weird is it to be looking at Christmas decorations while wearing shorts and t-shirts??

Settling in

Sorry for the lack of updates to the blog over the last couple of days. There are two reasons for this:

1. We only have internet access when we're at Skry's cousin's house
2. We've been doing really boring stuff recently

I know, I know - how can settling into a brand new country be boring?! But we have been doing some very everyday things like buying maps, opening bank accounts, and trying to not get lost too often. I haven't even taken any photos of Christchurch yet, although I fully intend to rectify that next week. We're probably going to move into Phil and Lou's house on Monday, and it's within walking distance of the city centre, so we'll have more opportunity to just walk about and take in the sights.

Skry's cousin Stephen and his family live about 45 minutes by car from Christchurch, so it is really out in the countryside here. They have a gorgeous big house and lots of land, but there isn't much else in this area. The land here is extremely flat, and they can get very hot dry winds, so there are huge belts of tall trees planted around every property as a windbreak. This does rather block the view from ground level, but we can still see the Southern Alps in the distance.

Christchurch itself seems like a nice little city so far. We haven't really explored properly, but I did meet up with another couple of internet friends, Jo and Kathy, and they have been showing us around. They also presented us with a lovely basket filled with local goodies such as Tim Tams, pineapple lumps, Marmite, two compilation CDs of what I assume are local bands, and even a tin sheep in a Santa hat. It is really great to have two such lovely people here that can help us settle in. Yay for meeting random strangers on the net!

I will update with photos if I can, but I don't know how many I will be able to take between now and when we move in with Phil and Lou, and they don't have internet access. We're having a barbecue this evening so maybe I'll get some at that. The weather is absolutely scorching at the moment, blue skies and sunshine, so it's perfect for eating outdoors. This lifestyle seems pretty good so far...

Tokyo, Day 4

Let's go backwards in time now while I tell you about our last day in Tokyo, which was two days ago. After checking out of our hostel and enjoying yet another Starbucks breakfast (I'm getting a bit tired of the strange bean things they put in the chicken sandwiches, but the green tea frappuccinos are lovely), we headed off to Harajuku to pimp out my Nintendo DS. Skry had already got stickers for his, but I hadn't wanted anything for mine until well after we left the toy shop two days previously, so we had to go back.

Having accidentally gotten off the subway at a more distant station than we expected, we enjoyed another walk through Meiji Jingu before getting my Hello Kitty stickers and departing. Next stop was a return visit to the 45th floor observatory in the government tower at Tachomae. We had already been there but the weather was dismal and the views were non-existent, so we went back in the sunshine for a better look.
After that, there was nothing for it but a final return to the hostel to pick up our suitcases before boarding what turned out to not be an express train to the airport. We arrived at 5.30pm for a 6.30pm flight, which was cutting it way too fine - we were the last people to check in - but we made it on time. I even had the opportunity to browse for yet more strange and fantastic foodstuffs!

All in all, we really enjoyed our trip to Japan, brief as it was. I'd love to go back sometime, hopefully armed with a bit more Japanese language ability next time. I'd done some Pimsleur lessons before leaving Ireland, and was able to say a few basic things like Please, Thank you, and Excuse me, but I'd like to be able to understand more of what people are saying. Next time we're there I'll be better prepared!

This is Kiwi Country

We have arrived! I still need to post photos of our last day in Tokyo, yesterday, but for now here's a sickener for all those of you reading this in cold, wet, grey, wintry Ireland.


This weather is giving us a very nice welcome to New Zealand, I have to say!

Tokyo, Day 3

No photos today as my camera is packed away, but it was wet and grey most of the day so I don't have many photos anyway. After another Starbucks breakfast, we headed to Ginza to see the fancy shops (all sorts of designer labels are represented here, and there was a pretty cool Sony tower with demonstrations of all Sony's fanciest new technology), then to Shinjuku to go up to the 45th floor of the government tower, to enjoy the view. Unfortunately the view was mostly grey skies and drizzle, but it got us out of the rain anyway.

This evening I was meant to be meeting Erica again, but a hiccup with the subway map meant we got on the wrong train and were half an hour late meeting her. She did wait, but apparently we missed each other by about a minute. It was really frustrating, but we found a lovely little Italian restaurant for dinner - fresh bread still hot out of the oven, mmm! - and had a few drinks and watched a DVD at the hostel, so it wasn't a totally wasted evening.

Tomorrow we're off to New Zealand, and I don't know when I'll be online next. I'll blog as and when I can. Keep checking back, and thank you for reading!

Tokyo, Day 2

Day 2 in Tokyo started out better than I expected, because I managed to get some sleep between 3.30am and 7.30am. Yay! So I awoke feeling a lot more refreshed than I expected. We had time for a quick breakfast in Starbucks (the only place we could find with vegetarian food) before meeting up with Erica. She is an American girl studying over here, who I know from the internet, and she very kindly offered to show us around.

First we went to Hachiko, to people-watch at the world's busiest intersection. On a Sunday morning it wasn't as busy as usual, but it was still interesting to sit in Starbucks - yes, twice in one day - and play "spot the foreigner". We tall white people really do stand out, literally! After finishing our drinks (I had a gorgeous cold creamy green tea thing), we walked around looking at the shops and ended up in Harajuku. We went to Yoyogi park and took a stroll, enjoying the warm sunshine and the beautiful colours of the trees.

After the park, we went to the nearby Meiji Jingu shrine. We picked a great day to go, because the place was swarming with little girls in kimono, being photographed by proud parents. We also saw three wedding processions. Erica thought that it was Girls' Day today, as that is around now sometime, which would explain all the finery on show.

Pets are treated like accessories here. Lots of people have tiny dogs on leads or in baskets, and most of them are wearing some sort of clothing. We saw one man with three tiny dogs following behind him, all wearing jackets and sunglasses! I don't know how he persuades them to keep the sunglasses on - superglue, maybe? We also met a girl with a cat that looked just like my old cat Flora. It was sitting on her shoulder as she walked around the park, which was bizarre but extremely cute.

By this time it was half three and Erica had to leave us - she has exams to sit tomorrow. Skry and I headed back to the hostel to freshen up, then out again to another area with hundreds of electronics shops. It was all a bit overwhelming, as the shops were really full and cluttered with racks and racks of products, signs hanging from the room, and hordes of shoppers, not to mention the salespeople with megaphones at every doorway. We took refuge in an Italian restaurant for some dinner, then headed back to the hostel. I was so sleepy that bed at 8.30pm seemed reasonable. Well, it's better than 6.30pm the previous night!