The adventure begins... again!

Hello from New Zealand! We arrived in Christchurch, which is on the eastern side of the south island, late last night after two days in Manly visiting friends after leaving Brisbane.

Christchurch is a lovely city; it is not to big and not too small, has beautiful weather and amazing people. It also has a bit of a European feel from it, which is a nice change from Australia, where you don't really feel the colonial history of most places I have been so far.

Today I took a stroll around town, enjoying the sunshine and a break from the scorching temperatures we had lately in Australia. I walked down the bustling pedestrian malls and through a small market, past the arts center (this is a very artsy city) and through the botanical gardens. We are leaving Christchurch tomorrow to take a long busride to Queenstown on the west coast to collect our van we will be living out of for the next month, but we will come back here in a few days to explore some more and see one of my best friends, Britt, who will be housesitting here!

We are staying on the south island for the entire month of February, and I could not be more excited. I have loved everything in Australia but I can only take so much of big cities--I have been craving adventures and the outdoors, and that is exactly what we are going to find in New Zealand! Though we don't have a definite itinerary yet, which is actually kind of nice, we know some things we want to do for sure.... a 3-4 day kayaking/camping trip in the amazing Abel Tasman national park, whale watching on the east coast, hiking through the Caitlins in the south, trekking the Franz Josef glacier, and black water rafting through glowworm-filled caves, to begin with.... Jealous?? :)

So I will be updating a lot since I will have a lot to talk about, haven't been so good in the past but will be now that I am adventuring a lot more!!!

Cheers from the land of the Kiwis,
Maggie