Well, it is now 2007 for all of us, you guys back home have finally caught up!!!

Thought it was about time we updated you on our activities over the festive period! We arrived in Christchurch the day before xmas to stay with my aunt Anne and my cousins Claire and Nikkie. It was lovely to see them again and they kept us highly entertained by taking us round their friends houses and meeting real Kiwi people! People over here seem to drink a lot of fizzy wine, otherwise known as a glass of bubbles!!! So we have spent most of the time slightly merry, but hey! it is that season! Xmas eve we went into Christchurch centre and spent the night in a massve beer garden, very strange concept for us hey! Xmas was great, the sun even came out as you can see from this photo! We went for a walk down the beach and I made Leigh go for a paddle! We spent the next couple of days chilaxing and visiting more people for bubbles and food!! Anne had a party at her house which was great fun.

The next 2 nites Leigh and I went back to our trusty little tent and headed over to Mt Cook and stayed in a DOC campsite. It was a beautiful setting, no aminieties, but this added to the experience. We went for a walk up a massive hill the, reminded us of the Inca Trail as it was steps after steps!!! Then the rain came! and didnt leave for the next 24 hrs!!!!! We spent the second nite at Lake Tekapo which is ice blue in colour. It is stunning, it gets it colour from glacial flour which is basically ground up rock that is always suppended in the water.

We then headed back to Christchurch for new year , we soent the night before experiencing some Kiwi night life which was great fun! We ended up at a blues bar that was very entertaining with transvestites! lovely! Then foe new yrs eve we went to Nikkie's friend house for a massive BBQ and watched the fireworks in the town centre.

We are now nursing our 2 day hang overs and heading off again tomorrow to Picton for our swim with dolphins! I am praying the weather improves otherwise we are going to freeze!

Hope every one back home had a fantastic Xmas and New Yr, we have tried to send some txt messages through but they got jammed in the network so some of you lucky people got the message several times and others got nothing, sorry!!

Loads of Love, Gem and Leigh

P.S. We would love to say a massive thank you to Anne, Claire and Nikkie for putting us up for so long and looking after us. We have had a fantastic time and have really enjoyed staying with u!!!! x x x x x x x x x x