New Zealand - Akaroa and Christchurch

Arthur's Pass
see all photos »

The drive back to Christchurch didn't get off to the best of starts. A stickler for rules and regulations, and known for hating 'bloody speeders', I shot myself down completely from my high and mighty driving pedestal within an hour of setting off. As my brain has rotted over the last 9 months of travelling and lack of mental stimulation I seem to have lost that skill which all women cherish, and love to laud over men - multitasking. This seems to have extended itself to driving and I can not only drive is there is total silence in the car. Obviously this is not possible with Buckingham wittering away next to me.

Akaroa wharf
see all photos »

So there we were, driving along, chatting away and I was concentrating so hard on stringing together an intelligible sentence that I managed to shoot through a 50kmph zone at 71kmph, greeted predictably by the sight of a policeman flagging me down. Shit. I duly pulled over and as he enquired why I had been going so fast I felt like a school child again and could feel my brain frantically searching for excuses that would let me off the hook. 'I didn't see the signs' really didn't wash and we found ourselves $120 worse off. Following a worryingly emotional reaction to screenings of Home Alone and Parenthood in the backpackers, for the third consecutive night Becs shed some more tears.

Becs gets arrested

Looking down on Akaroa
see all photos »

Instead of stopping off for the night at Arthur's Pass, an area of outstanding natural beauty half way to Christchurch, we pushed on to the Banks Peninsula and petit town called Akaroa. It has a French influence, with people riding bikes in stripey t-shirts with onions round their necks. Well almost, there's lots of cheese and wine and the streets have French names but that's about it.

The place was a complete surprise, set into the extinct and flooded crater of a massive old volcano and extremely quaint and pretty. It was the first time in our two weeks when we wished we had a bit more time to explore the area, especially as you can swim with dolphins and go whale spotting on an old Ketch (type of ship apparently).

Instead, we're off to Fiji to see if we can single-handedly restore democracy!