Christchurch to Queenstown

Wow....im soooooo cold! Let me catch you all up on what ive been doing since leaving Auckland. I arrived in Dunedin about 10am Wednesday morning and it was stunning. As we flew over we could see the summit of Mt Cook and it was just so clear and shall we say crisp! Such a climate change from the last few days in Auckland and even more so from my last 4 months! Dunedin is a gorgeous little town...city i think actually, i explored the town etc in the morning and booked my bus to christchurch for Saturday and i trip up to see the penguins and birds. (This is where i wish i brought my lonely planet out with me this morning, coz i havent a clue where i went really) I spent Wednesday afternoon doing the Cadburys factory tour, and i did really well. Like in UK you get freebies all the time and can eat as much as you like when theyre handing out the freebies. Well our tour guide was finishing the job on Friday and wasnt to bothered about what we took etc and told us to fill our pockets which we did! So i had my jacket full of chocolate, my goodie bag and i obviously made a good impression on this guy as he came over to chat to me in the shop after the tour. Gave me an extra goodie bag and asked me to pick any big bar of chocolate i wanted and then he went to brought it out of his own pocket! Which was really sweet of him. So its far to say ive got loads of chocolate... and i actually still have nearly all of it! I finished the night off in this gorgeous like bar, Craft i think it was called. The brewed their own ales which i obviously had to sample and the meal was fantastic and not bad for about 14 pounds all in! I sat infront of the fire eating my dinner while i band played! Perfect...
Thrusday i did the tour up to see the birds, and the penguins and sealions. It was the last tour of the season and the tour guy was having to move on to other things as the season was closing for winter. We had a really great day but im so glad i bought a coat! It was like a wet and windy day in Wales or something. Really bitterly cold gale force winds on the coast. Really good thought.
Friday was some what less productive, I pottered around until 11.30 when i headed up to...spreights brewery?! That doesnt look right...it was something like that anyway. Its an New Zealand beer which was set up by 3 blokes all i think our tour guide Graham said were Scottish. And the beer is refered to as the "pride of the south". Really nice ale actually...ok there is a pattern forming here. Tour was really good as well, only 5 of us and it was a really good laugh and i was getting loads of stick for being from just outside Manchester from Graham. I ended up having a snack lunch at the Alehouse next door with a Scottish couple who moved out to New Plymouth for a year working as doctors. They'd got married a month before moving to New Zealand and heading off travelling on their way to New Zealand.
Satutrday was an early start so much so it was still dark! Waiting at the train station for the coach wasnt too nice but i survived. It took 5 hours to get up to Christchurch and the views were pretty amazing the closer we got (it was raining in Dunedin and it died off the closer we got to Christchurch and turned into a gorgeous day). Id really decided i was going to drop all my gear off and head straight to the weekend craft markets at the art centre as they were meant to be really great. Didnt buy anything part from some local ale at the bar at the back of the market. It was so nice just chilling out and people watching.
Sunday morning was an early start. Id met a guy the night before who was on the bunk below me. He'd just finished the 15 day tour with connections and was heading over to Oz to do the red centre tour me anc Gaz did. It was great to be able to exchange stories and i was really excited by the time i went to sleep. It sounded fantastic. So we got picked up sunday morning and Shane and Mandy introduced themselves etc and we got on our way. Beautiful clear day and there was snow on the peaks. Shane was very excited which got us all excited. Apprently theyd been on snow at all on Friday when he'd come up with the other tour. Once again i cant tell you where we stopped but it was so amazing and stunning. I love this county! The temperature dropped a lot yesterday and there was definately a "snowing chill" in the air according to Shane. He was right and we had a light dusting this morning. But last night just to warm us up we all went to Minus 5, a bar made completely out of ice! It was apprently -8 in the bar and everything including the glasses were made out of ice. Perfect way to drink Vodka thats for sure, and the cocktails were gorgeous. (Al you would have loved it) Your only allowed in the bar 30 minutes and they give you coats and gloves etc. Really cool.
So today what have i done... well this morning ive been out on the Shotover Jet which is a jet boat which skims the water of the Shotover cannyon at speeds of 80km and just for fun spins you 360 degrees ever so often! What i buzz... but soooooo cold! I think its safe to say if that river didnt flow as fast as it does it would be frozen for sure in places. Still trying to warm up after it. This afternoon im going Horse riding (as promised Vicki) on a Lord of the Rings tour. Sounds alright, just the horse bit that im not too sure about in this weather. Its now up to about 4c which is better than the 2c which is was at 9am.

Speak to you guys later...and ill bring my lonely planet next time! xxx