City life revisited. We have arrived in my final destination (Sherilyn is continuing on for another week or so before heading to Oz, Fiji and the most beautiful island of them all... PEI). Christchurch is a great city, set on the Avon river with many Victorian buildings and a real English feel. I think I'll quite like it.

As for the last few days... Although this kills me, how do you spell teepee? I think that is the Canadian spelling but it appears the kiwis spell it tipi. Mark stop gloating. (Sidenote: it came up in the spellcheck as tepee. But how much I can trust it I don't know - tepeemees came up as deepens). Anyway, we ended up spending 3 nights in Nelson and not really doing much. Our first night we met up with our roomies (technically that would be teepeemees) for a bit of local culture and a playground adventure. I'm still smarting from that one. The next day was a visit to Rabbit Island and a quiet night at the hostel. They had a beautiful deck and all the guests were so great that each night we would end up making a nice supper and sitting out sharing some wine.

The third day Kane & Martin (teepeemees) headed out with us and we took an adventure through Abel Tasman national park (our Kane & Abel adventure). It's really spectacular. We saw the Pupu springs which is the clearest water in the world as it runs off the mountains, through the caves and then out to the springs. We headed up to the top of the park to Tataranoui (or something like that) beach and a nice tramp through the forest for the afternoon. Kiwi word for you - tramp is a hike. We eventually made our way back to the hostel about 12 hours after departure with more wine and a deck of cards to settle in for a quiet but fun evening.

We were reluctant to leave yesterday morning but eventually got ourselves down the west coast to Punakaiki to see some incredible beach and the Panake Rocks. Limestone is formed in layers with mudstone separating it into thin pieces. When exposed to external elements the mudstone ashes away and the limestone is left in what looks like stacks of pancakes. Well, grey, lumpy pancakes with no syrup.

Into Greymouth, a mining industrial town last night to stay at Neptune backpackers. Neptune was originally a hotel, built in 1905. They had no room inside and stuck us out in a trailer (like the type used as offices on construction sites) which sounds like it might suck, but was actually the awesome! After 3 days in a teepee we had our own room with a double bed each (with linen - first night in 2.5 months I haven't used my sleeping bag) and our own tv. Wicked.

Today we came through Arthur's pass to Christchurch on the east coast of the South Island. To do so, you drive through the heart of the Southern Alps mountain range. I can't even describe it. I've never seen anything like it. There were so many different colours on the mountains and many were even snow capped. Once we were through the range the land became unbelievably flat. It was the longest stretch (probably about 75km) of flat, straight highway we've had yet. The highways (motorways) are so windy and so often you can't see which way it twists and turns 20m in front of you with all the thick vegetation. Happy to be merely a passenger.

It's time to bid Junior farewell... he's the Suzuki Ignis we've been driving the past 2 weeks (and 4500km). He's a cross between a car and SUV so we call him the adolescent SUV and named him Junior. When we were getting on the Wellington ferry the workers (not sure if they quite classify as goofarses Mom) could not decide whether we belonged on the small or large vehicle deck! To Junior's dismay, small it was.

I am currently living out of a teepee. It is decidedly the coolest place ever. It's a backpackers hostel but it's really just a house in a woody area in Nelson (suprisingly close to downtown) that has set up a teepee (Tipi? Well how do you spell teepee?) on a hill with 6 beds in it. I could stay forever.

They also have a pig, Lola (she's a bit of a showgirl), goat Milky, 2 sheep Millie & the other one, dogs, cat, birds and turtles. And it's cheap! There's no beating this place!

Today is a quiet day... enjoying the sunshine (16 degrees) on Rabbit Island (not a bunny to be found) and taking it slow. Some of us are nursing minor injuries received during an early morning session at the local playground...

Now we enter Wellington. Not quite up to the standards of Wellington, PEI (after which I'm sure it's named), but a lovely city. We only rolled in a few hours ago, after sunset (which is now creeping up shortly after 6pm, not cool) and had a bit of a wander about. Wellington is the capital of NZ but is much smaller than Auckland (about 300,000 people vs 1.3 million). It has a much stronger arts & culture scene than Auckland, but unfortunately I won't experience it this time around. We're out of here on a 8am ferry tomorrow and on to the South Island. I do like what I've seen so far, but that's not a whole lot right now...

Since my last note we spent time wandering the Napier waterfront (or Maine Parade) region and just enjoying the warmth & sunshine again! There's been a real cold streak here lately dropping the temps from high teens to 10-12 degrees and 5 at night! I am so climatized that yes, I do feel okay about whining about that. I even bought a touque ("beanie") the other day. I can't find mitts though - they all wear gloves. How boring.

Back to Napier. It was lovely and shorts & t-shirt (in the sunshine) warm, so we wandered the markets and gardens and points of interest along the waterfront for a good while, then I joined a 2 hour (that quickly became 3 hour) tour about the city. When the earthquake hit (7.9 on the richter scale) it rose the land by 2 metres! Napier was a set on a small island, but the rise of the land gave the city 40 extra acres. Only 4 buildings of the downtown core survived and much reconstruction had to be done, all in the style of the times, art deco. It's claimed to be the most comprehensive collection of art deco buildings in the world, a claim that brings the tourists in droves. If in Hawkes Bay, do visit.

This morning we visited a winery just outside the city (the Hawkes Bay area is a huge fruit growing area and houses about 40 wineries). An interesting tour, allowing me to finally get a grasp--albeit a small one--on this whole wine culture, some quick testing and we were on our way. Sidenote - the wineries all sell their product at the winery (usually called the cellar door) and many are not sold in local bottle shops (liquour stores). Fascinating industry, growning by 25% annually in this country.

Now you understand I'm not a whino, merely trying to lear about NZ's fastest growing industry. It's all to further my education.