Hi Again!Sorry it has been a while since we put a post up again, it is harder to find a decent internet café in NZ than we thought it would be. We've been in NZ 12 days now and in that time we have travelled over 1500 km so there's quite a lot to update, we have split it into smaller blog entries to make things easier.

Christchurch and Akaroa, 28th Jan - 1st February

When we sent the previous blog we had just landed in Christchurch and hadn't really seen much of NZ. After finishing our Internet stuff and checking into a hostel we started exploring the town. After LA it felt like more of a village though, it only took us about 2 hours to mosey around the main parts. A lot of the Christchurch feels like it could be an English town, the buildings, trees and animals are all almost identical, the main differences being that It's hot and people sound different. Because it was the annual buskers festival in Christchurch, we checked out a few of the acts including a really impressive acrobatic gig. The festival was great because all the acts took place in the main and garden squares so it was free and easy to see them. After a few days milling in Christchurch and getting our bearings we decided to head to the nearby Banks Peninsula to start seeing something of the scenery NZ had to offer. We weren't disappointed, on a short bike ride from our quaint hostel we were in awe of the landscape (and the warm weather). Our main activity was in the biggest town of the Banks Peninsula, Akaroa, where we went out on a cruise and swum with dolphins! This was amazing the dolphins were more than happy to charge at us, breaking formation only at the last moment to dodge us and keep surfing the waves. Heading back to Christchurch on the 30th Jan we had a last minute change of heart and rented a car rather than taking the bus around NZ, definitely the best decision we could have made, the car has been amazing and really kicked off our journey through NZ. Bye for now,LoveAlex and Sophiexxx