South Island, Christchurch to see Jo.

This is South Island.
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Hello again folks. Oooopps times up...just off jet boating! More later!

Right, lets get movin.....

Had to get up at about 6am!!! shock horror for someone with no job!! to get the shuttle to the dock to get the ferry over to South Island. For those who don't know, NZ is made up of 3 islands. The main ones are the North and South and there's a little diddy one called Stewart Island on the bottom. South Island differs in that it's dominated by several mountain ranges and so has 25% of the population of the North. Much of it has been designated as national park and can be fairly touristy but not at this time of year as we are between the main ski season and high summer. If you're thinking of coming I'd recommend spring as I've had fantastic weather and it's not crowed. Have heard so much about how stunning the South is that I meant to leave 3 weeks to travel round here but it's ended up being only 2 due to having too much fun in the North!

And again.
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As the ferry pulled into the inlets of the South Island I was pretty blown away by the scenery. The sea is so blue don't think I've ever seen it so clear. Felt good to be moving on again getting those miles under my belt. The bus journey then took a very long time to Christchurch....about another 6hrs. The thing about the buses I'm taking is that they stop[ every 2 hrs which is great if you need the loo, but not so good if you just want to get somewhere. At least the view was nice!

So I got to town about 6.30 and Jo was late picking me up so I was pretty frazled by the time we arrived and went straight to a bar with some of her mates! Finally met the infamous Tino who was a very cheeky chap. This is my friend Emma's old boss who blew me out in Auckland...meant to be gorgeous but didn't do it for me! Had a fabulous night though...was great to meet some more Kiwis as when you're traveling you tend to meet more Europeans than locals. Jo seems really happy and well looked after here, was great to see her.

Oh yeah, Jo has a very large dog called Bruce that looks like Sprocket out of the Fraggles. Bruce is an enthusiastic creature that knocked me over when he jumped out of the car. But we're still friends.

Mon 25th Sept

Spent a pleasant day in Christchurch with Flavio, one of Jo's housemates whilst Jo was at work. Went to the botanical gardens and helped him translate some stuff as he's Swiss. Also spent a long time with my head in the Lonely Planet guide trying to work out my next moves.

That night me and Jo went out for an Indian and crashed out fairly early. Even though I was sleeping on the sofa it was great to be in a real house rather than a backpackers sharing a room. Slept like a baby until the dog gave me some good sloppy snuffles in the morning!