The Land of the Long White Cloud

We couldn't have asked for a better introduction to New Zealand. Coming into land in Christchurch we flew over the snow-capped alps which seemed never-ending. Apparently this was a pretty rare sight because most of the time there is too much cloud-cover to see the mountains, so apparently it's not such a land of long white cloud! Our luck was to continue in Christchurch as we were met at the airport by lovely Larry who is Bernie's Dad. For our inititation into New Zealand we were taken to a wine bar to taste the delights of gorgeous red wine and restaurant food with real Kiwi's! We then stayed 4 nights in Christchurch. We were also lucky enough to meet Bernie's brother and family who treated us like their own family. They had 3 gorgeous children who we had a lot of fun with and we were very grateful for home cooked food and big double beds with electric blankets!

We spent a couple of days seeing Christchurch and the surrounding areas including an artificial insemination farm for bulls and deer (an experience to say the least!). It was like being back in England in Christchurch which was really nice :)

Reluctantly though we had to leave these lovely people to begin our Kiwi Experience journey. On Friday we took a beautiful drive to Kaikoura along the coastal road with seal colonies and amazing turquoise sea on one side and snow capped mountains on the other. After one night in Kaikoura (we'll be coming back here after our loop of the South Island, so hopefully we can do some whale watching or dolphin swimming next time!) we moved onto Nelson for a couple of nights where we hired a car with 3 other girls for the day and drove up to the Abel Tasman National Park. It was really nice to do a bit of walking and have the freedom of a car!

We're now in Westport where today Charlotte E went on a horse trek through rivers and stunning scenery; and Charlotte D started the adrenilin sports with a jet boat ride along the river!

As much as people warned us it was going to be almost winter here, we were totally unprepared for the cold! However we have now bought new coats, hats and gloves which should come in handy because apparently we're in for some snow as we move down the South Island...

We've got loads planned for the next week or so but will try and update as soon as we can :) Also we have a lot more pictures coming!