Spring has finally sprung!

Its official, it been over a week without rain and had glorious sunshine too.. Stacie is a happy spring bunny!
Elsewhere it seems that the depression from my departure has lifted somewhat (I know you still morn :)) and life has indeed been getting along without me and I'm missing out on the fun.
Mr. & Mrs. Kocaoglu are eagerly preparing for the UK part of there nuptials, so I wish them a fab time and request that they take many photos and email me the gossip so I know what I've missed out on, and Michelle you can now relax a bit its all done now girl!
Also the increase of the Gill clan in the arrival of all 8Ibs, 7ozs of Amelie Ann Rachel - According to her Father the best 2 minutes work of his life. Starting to get pangs of homesickness at not being around for these things, especially as Denise suffered that pelvis thingy (which is the correct medical term) and has a zimmer frame until she can recover and she wont send me any photos... the rest of you do your duty and sent me one over, we must always look on the bright side of these things, its bad that shes in pain and cant walk but a zimmer frame is bloody funny stuff.
So back to backpacker thing....

Chirstchurch is where I'm at, as a tourist you generally dont want to spend too much time here as there isnt much going on, Art centre, punting, museum, gardens, gondola, its quite and relaxed and very English in its appearance and also street names. I have had a fantastic time here for 2 main reasons, the Babes and Al (no filthy minds this is not night involving many nude people!).
The Babe family where my host family for my WWOOFing (Willing workers of organic farms/ wwoof.com) and I spent an awesome week with them and their Blueberry Orchard (blueberrybliss.co.nz). In return for 4 hours a day pruning in the Orchard I got a bed, the best home cooking and spending time with this truly top family, I honestly cant say enough nice things about them, and indeed all their friends and family who went out of their way to make me feel right at home, and I would highly recommend the project to anyone and a big thank you to the Babes.
Young Al has set up home in this wee city and I am thanking the gods that he did (We will forgive the fact he's a Newcastle supporter) as I have had a great crack. Its great having a break from pretending to be young and cool to attract new friends for a while and to hang out with someone knows and accepts me as the twat that I am.
Al has also gone all out for me while I've been here, showing me the 'best parts of town' (and forgiving me for loosing us soo many games of pool) and taking me to my 1st Rugby match where we watched the mightily Canterbury kick the arses of Manawatu from the corporate suite, I know I dont belong in such places but I'm telling you do it once and you will never want to go back with the common folk again!
So its a huge thanks for Al also and a reminder that Sydney is just a short hop for a weekend visit ;)

So alls left is a short stay back in Auckland where I shall inflict my company on Kat once again. Best bits? New Zealand has the nicest people, so much so that it took me a while to stop thinking that everyone who asked how I'm was I going was trying to sell me something, I have 'misplaced' a few things while under the influence, and have got everything back after retracing my steps, even my camera which I left in a bar!!!

Next stop, Fiji and no doulbt sunburn...
Bye, bye

The scenic south...

Well in the 'beautiful' part of the country and here's where I've been...

Nelson

So called the sunshine part owing to the fact that it gets more sunshine hours than anywhere else (Winter deffo not the best time to be enjoy that!), and its also a major hub for anything water or boat related and usually a combination of both.

Its a great little town that I really enjoying kicking back in, mainly due to the hostel I was staying in which had a great crowd, a spa (lovely for star gazing on those oh so cold nights) and an outside unheated pool that my nipples will never forgive me for jumping in that once....

This is also the 1st place that I discovered that only beer and wine is sold in supermarkets, the spirits are only sold in 'Liquor stores'. I have not idea why, if its to promote sensible drinking they should see what happens after the consumption of 3 litres of boxed wine purchased from the supermarket does - which is a staple diet for most.

Greymouth

Hmmm what to say? Well it started off as a gold mining town, as many of the towns around here did and doesn't really have much going for it so, just don't do it!!! We stayed for a compulsory nights stop and our only entertainment was the $20 brewery tour of Monteiths where we sampled 7 brews, got free run of the bar taps for 10 minutes and then where taken to the most scankiest pub imaginable for another free pint and all you can eat BBQ which consisted of only sausages and salads. The bar closed at 9pm but luckily we manged to stumble upon another with more reasonable hours before heading home. One night (which we made the most of :)) was defiantly enough, and I'm sure no one felt this more than the poor lass that ended up with food poisoning and couldn't leave the next day with the rest of us.

Franz Josef

Little town where when someone says its on the main street, they mean the only street, I went for a walk to see the town and it took all of 10 minutes! So why stop here? Glaciers of course! The only other place you can do this is in South America, and there are many ways to part with your hard earned to see them here, from a short heli ride and a trek, a full day ice climbing with pic axes or the leisurely scenic flights over looking them and nearby Mt. Cook. I did none of the above but decided instead at trying my hand at quad biking! Which is just as fun as it sounds only that they make you stick to a route and not go nuts trying to scale mountains in them.

Ending the day covered in mud is oddly satisfying for a days work :)

Queenstown

Well we all know about Queenstown right! There are even a few Kiwis on tour here (I have met more people from the UK and Europe in this country than I did in London and have met more Kiwis in London than here). You can do absolutely anything that isn't covered on your travel insurance here; jet boating, bungee, para/sky diving and even sample the legal but not highly recommended herbal pills (one look at the guys that did and you'll give it a miss).

My indulgements while enjoying this busy little town where to encourage as many drunk and or stupid people to agree to bungee while here (I did not partake, you have to make yourself jump off for these, not happening, even tho the people that did it said it was out of this world) and getting to grips once again with snowboarding - I still need a lot more work but hay its all fun.

I also had the use of a car as I ditched the bus owing mainly to being sick and wanting to stay in bed longer, make less compulsory stops etc. Out off all the 'fun' stuff you can do here that could leave you maimed or dead this has got to be tops for me, driving around and across mountains with nothing but cats eyes and the glare of someone else main beams in your eyes as they come round very acute angles, although prize for almost dying has to go to when my wheels hit something that was almost certainly living before hand at 80km/h in the pitch black country roads - I now fully understand the phrase no one will hear you scream - I resolved never to drive after dark again!
Wicked cool town tho, and a must do if you get the chance.

Lake Tekapo
This was a one night stop on the way over to Christchurch (Compulsory on my self imposed ban on night time driving). As the name suggests there is a huge lake which I cycled 3/4 of the way round and back again, once again reminding myself that my levels of fitness are around about the same level as 0. If you just come over here after flying in to Queenstown or something you would be amazed by the beauty of the mountains and the lake and the clear skys at night, but the South Island spoils you with so many mountain and lake combos that you get to a point where you don't appreciate them anymore, most of the photos I have taken are of the scenery and even I don't know where the hell I was when I took them anymore.

Well thats about all she wrote for now, in Christchurch at the mo where I'm going to do some WWOOFing, wanting to know what the hell that is should keep you interested enough to bother reading my next update.... more to come- bye for now....