New Zealand

Trip Start Oct 05, 2007

Trip End Oct 04, 2008

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Where I stayed

Tranquil Lodge

Flag of New Zealand Christchurch, New Zealand
Tuesday, April 8, 2008

We're up at 5.30 to catch our shuttle to the airport and check in on time for our flight and grab some breakfast. Soon we're flying out of Oz and a short while later we're flying over snowcapped mountains and getting ready to land in Christchurch, New Zealand. After collecting our bags we catch a shuttle into the city - New Zealand's second largest as informed on the aeroplane video - and arrive at our hostel. It looks very different to the ones we stayed in in Oz as it's more of a house than a hostel but it's nice an quiet and much better than the dump we stayed in in Sydney and it has proper duvets on the beds! We walk down to the city centre and can't believe how small it is and also how cold! We walk back a slightly different way hoping to go past the supermarket the man running the hostel mentioned and find it after walking round and round different streets. We spend the night in the hostel watching videos with the other people there. The day after we successfully spend looking for warm clothes and new shoes in Christchurch, stopping off to see the rather modern cathedral in the centre

Looking down towards Akaroa

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The day after we catch a shuttle bus to the nearby town of Akaroa which is on a bay created by a volcanoe and the drive to it is really beautiful and I fall in love with New Zealand! When we're in Akaroa we go for a walk along the sea front and then over the hills and also check out the Akaroa museum which tells us the history of Akaroa and how it was one of the early French settlements in New Zealand. After relaxing in the sunshine for a while we catch the shuttle back to Christchurch.

For our last day in Christchurch we borrow bikes from the hostel and cycle out of town to the Antarctic centre. It's quite a cool centre with different displays on the Antarctic and the lives of the people who work on the research stations there. We also get to experience an Antarctic storm with real snow in their simulator which is good fun but very very cold! After spending a couple of hours there we reluctantly get back on our rather uncomfortable bikes and cycle back into town via the botanical gardens for a little bit more shopping before heading back to the warnth of our hostel and getting ready to leave the next day.

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