Punting on the Christchurch Express

Hello again. We have just arrived in Dunedin after a 6 hour bus journey with a really bad driver (clutch control man!!). The sun is still shining, the only rain we have seen was about half past eleven last night and that only lasted an hour. Yes we have been very fortunate with the weather. (please do not think we mention this to rub it in that most of you are in the freezing cold, grey, rainy and sporadically snowy UK - we would not do this, it's merely so you can further understand our experience). Anyhoo back to Christchurch. On our first full day we set out to explore the city and do a bit of shopping. We did minimal amounts of both. The highlight of our day was definitely our Punt along the river Avon (pictured below). We were lucky to be in a boat with some lovely australians, and fun was had by all, though i think we were a little disappointed not to have been in the earlier punt with the choir of chinese ladies who cruised past on their way out sounding lovely and harmonious, and came back sounding like they'd spent a night at the boozer (we could not find an explanation for this, but it certainly was entertaining). Good to see some other people with a sense of humour.

The next day (being Sunday) we were up early to board the TranzAlpine Express to Greymouth and back ( a return journey of 660 k, which i reckoned to be about 400 miles - though do correct me if i'm way off - i'm sure someone will). This route took us across the Alps and through Arthurs Pass (again see picture below). There was some spectacular scenery, but i think if we were to do it again we would disembark at Arthurs pass and have a walk around there as there wasn't much between the pass and Greymouth.I'm glad we did get to Greymouth though, as we got to walk in the footsteps of Billy Connolly and see the sea defences and fisherman featured in his world tour of NZ (Fisherman below - i know the pics on it side, but put a little effort in people. we can't do it all for you).

Our last day in the city was another wandering day. Sally was up early and visited the art gallery. We then met and went to the Cathedral - nothing to write home about (so i won't). We came back feeling warm and so jumped in the pool (very briefly coz it got cold very quickly) and later in the evening we went to the cinema to see Walk the Line. A good time was had by all. That's all folks (for now). xx