Hello all to all you pommies!

Were in chrsitchurch and loving it!! when we last left you we were in sunny california nursing a slight sunburn after falling asleep on the beach (sorry jess' nan). We left Santa monica at about 5 and got in a shuttle we rented to take us to LAX. The driver was a rather plump greek guy who drived like a maniac and keep saying things we culd not for the life of us understand.

Also goin to LAX was THE MOST british family ever and the mum (most likely called irene or brenda) could talk for england.... ireland and wales! But we made it there without going crazy, went in and located the first queue we culd and did the typical brit thing of just standing there going "whats this then.... why has everyone else got bag tags and we havnt?", we then realised (after more asking of the americans) that we shuld prob check in before we queue elsewhere..... duh.

Check in was slightly moody as the steward didnt crack a smile and was very uniformative. We asked to be sat together on the flight (as no one wanted to go through what char had to on the way out!!) and got row 56 seats j, k and H. so we assumed we were not together and the rest of the time at the aiport was spent moaning and b****ing about the steward bumface. BUT when we boarded we were sitting together. for some reason the letter 'i' doesnt exist when you are airborne.

laura got rather upset about the fact we werent allowed suncream on the plane in case we had snuck a load of C4 in the bottle. The flight was a goodun, we recommend quantas!! and after buying sleeping pills (and not even bloody using them) char (charlie bean) and laura (luigi) were conked out for a whole 8 hours. dead to the world, including jess who did not catch more than an hours wink, despit trying every position possible. So instead she watched 3 and half films and investigated every inch of the in flight entertainment system (includin jazz session..... mmmm cool).

when we got off the flight in auckland it was a quick hop, skip, step, bag coillection and shuttle to the domestic terminal to get a flight to christchurch. While waiting for the flight jess discovered her phoned worked YAY!! and called all family members to share the joy, but poor lauras has given up the ghost, Hopefully at some point this trip everything will work for us!! after a 12 hours flight the connecting hour and a half seemed like no time at all and it wasnt long until we were in baggage collection/ pick up (new zealanders are trusting enuff to let the public near baggae collection......). Rachael and Chris (char's sis and her boyf) picked us up at the airport and whisked us away to rita's chris' nan's gaff! where we unloaded and showered and ate. loved it!

chris and rachael took us shopping (prob not best but we did get some bargains, and one dollar here is about 35p so our money is almost tripled!! pretty good!). We all had lunch of sushi, curry and pasta (not each! we all had diff!) and then went bac to rita's where char offloaded a lot of clothing to her sis as her bag has already developed a hole!! we ordered pizza and watched a bit of telly (new Zealand style- shortland street- which we discovered has stolen adam rickett from us the b*****s!). jess was the first to fall but we were all in bed by half 9.

Today we woke up, had GOOD FOOD for brekkie and went on a drive to sumner which is slightly like a smaller version of the OC, and had an amazing beach and scenery. we climbed a few rocks, went under a cave, all general fun! then we went PAINTBALLIN, where char got hit 5 times and the rest of us got hit once, but it was a larf and a halff, especially since the coats on the girls were nearly touching the floor!. After that chris dropped us off at our hostel the YHA on Worcester Blvd, which is v cute but rather small and basic! tonight we are off to dinner and drinks which should be fun! speak to you all soon!! love love x