NEW ZEALAND 4
Leaving Dunedin we went towards Christchurch, stopping overnight a Timaru. It was on this route that we found the first new snow of the yearaaaargh winter was really catching us up. In Christchurch we met another member of the Hurricane project – this time from the Air New Zealand side. Ian and Pam lived about 20 kms outside of Christchurch. The area is littered with houses that are not seen – the only signs that there is a house somewhere along the track is the tell-tale tin mailbox at the end of the drive. Often we would see 5 or 6 of them in a row and no sign of a house anywhere ! Ian and Pam had several Angora goats which Jenny fell in love with – they all had beautiful silky, curly, cream coats, they also had two horses, chickens (fresh eggs ! ) – all of which appeared to have been deposited by the children at some stage.
Whilst riding around the town centre we noticed a couple on a BMW R1100GS its Martin and Jeanette (we had caught a glimpse of them in Milford Sound previously). They turned round and we stood chatting for a while, agreeing to meet in the next day or so for more "tales of the overlander".

We went back into town to do the tourist bit and take the "recommended walks", stopping to say hi to Martin and Jeanette. All four of us went on the intrepid Christchurch walks and talked incessantly. At the end of the day we agreed that we would keep in touch, unfortuately we did not meet them again whilst in Christchurch, maybe somewhere else. We had also, at this stage heard from Peter and Carol (BMW R80RT that we met in Koh Chang, Thailand) who are also in New Zealand, so we are hoping to catch up with them again also. The evening before we left there was dinner and Ian and Pams inlcuding several of the Air New Zealand team that Jenny is in contact with.

Next was Kiakoura, home of the whale watches and dolphin swimming. We pitched our tent and phoned to see what tours were available. Unfortunately, all the dolphin swimming was fully booked for the next day - we could go at 5.30 a.m. the following day (don't think so), so we just booked the Whale Watch tour. Amazingly we saw 7-8 sperm whales - huge things and we're afraid that none of the pictures really does it justice, we have one slightly blurred on that was rather lucky and it is below.
Sperm whale (honest it is) going for the dive as an Albatros flys over (yes really)
Steaming logs floating in the sea - OK Sperm Whale's breathing.
We packed up the next morning in the rain - everything soaked. This was going to be our last day on the South Island. After around an hour's riding the sun came out and so progress speeded up a little. Making Picton for the 1.30 pm ferry in plenty of time only to find out that it was fully booked - not even squeezing space for a couple of motorbikes ! However, there were spaces on the new ferry service for passenger - previously only freight, but that did not leave till 5.30 that evening. After scoffing yet another meat pie we wandered around to find something to do. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the new aquarium which proved interesting.

We got onto the ferry as planned only to find that it had recently been bought from a French company so all the signs were in French (at last it the lessons come in handy). The boat was used previously for longer journeys and so had no seating lounges, only cabins with no doors (free to use) and a very very small bar area - with no beer or alcohol sales. Food consisted of the daily special and nothing else - although it was good. We arrived at Wellington at 9.30 pm and headed straight to Rick & Lyndsey's, who we met at the start of our journey in Luxembourg. If you don't mean it don't offer a room to motorbikers - cos they WILL turn up :-)

It was still raining the next morning so we decided to wander into Wellington for a quick look around. Although it is a very clean and pretty city it is yet another NZ city so not many pictures I'm afraid. We did find an excellant slide in the childrens area near the waterfront. As it was raining we where the only people around so decided to give it a go - Jenny went first and came hurtling down (as the slide was wet and we were in nylon waterproofs), skidding 20 foot further than the end of the slide - manic. Cliff came down rather slower (he got stuck!!!).
How old are we supposed to be ?????
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