Christchurch

We were told before arriving to New Zealand that it is quite like Ireland and when we arrived it didn't disappoint as it was lashing rain. We went up on a gondola up Port Hills to get a view over the city and the bay however due to extreme wind we had to get one of the last gondolas back down the hill as it was closing for the day. The view was stunning even if we only admired it for a few minutes.

The International Antarctica Centre was one of the main attractions that I wanted to visit while in Christchurch. When we arrived the blue penguins in the centre were being fed. The penguins were all injuried and couldn't survive out in the sea so were being minded and cared for in the centre until they were strong enough to go back out to the sea. Some of the penguins were fed in the water and others on the artificial beach area. It was funny watching the penguins dart for their food in the water and then shake their flippers from side to side when they were full. After that we got to ride in one of the vehicles that are used to transport people and food to the Antarctica base camp. It was a bumpy ride as we went up dunes and over logs but we laughed the whole way through the ride. In the centre there was also a wind storm that went to -18 degree celcius wind temperature and a challenge to see how long we could put our hands in ice water. Rob held his hand in the ice the longest (three minutes) so he got bragging rights. There was so much to do in the centre, it was really well designed and I would recommend anyone to go and visit.

The next morning we left Christchurch on the Transalpine Train. This scenic train journey took five hours to get to the west coast and to the town of Greymouth. During the train journey we went through valleys and farm lands, saw wide rivers, lakes and waterfalls and over mountains and bridges. The weather also changed through our journey as we started with rain, then had snow while on the mountains and finally arrived into Greymouth with beautiful sunny weather. It was the most amazing amazing train journey I've ever been on, just stunning scenery.En savoir plus