New Zealand, Day 2

Just a short update (I forgot to bring my usb cable to the internet cafe so no photos today!).

We've just done a bit of shopping for hiking gear before we collect our car and set off for Arthur's Pass. The weather today is sunny and warm, but a lady in a cafe this morning told us that it hasn't been a great summer here so far this year. Still, whatever happens we'll make the best if it. We're looking forward to a bit of hiking, and there should be some amazing scenery on the way. We're staying in a hostel at Arthur's Pass for 2 nights.

Arrival in Christchurch, NZ

We caught an early flight from Melbourne this morning at 8.40. It was a 3 hour flight to Christchurch. The weather here is overcast but warm. First impressions of the city is that it's small in comparison to other cities that we have visited but the population of the south island would explain it. The south island has a population of 1 million approx! Plenty of irish pubs though!!

Tomorrow we head west for Arthurs Pass for two nights. We saw snow capped mountains on the flight in. Looking forward to the hikes!

Thanks again to Shane, Megan and Aidan for putting us up in Melbourne for 3 nights. We really enjoyed our time there, and we packed in a lot in a short space of time. After several attempts to find us Kangaroos, Shane finally suceeded yesterday evening and we spotted several of them next to a highway. Wow, they can really jump!

Adventures in Melbourne

Well, we arrived in Melbourne safe & sound on Thursday evening (local time) and met Shane at the airport. We knew it was summer the minute that we got off the plane - it was warm! He drove us through the city centre on the way home to give us our first view of Melbourne by night.

Australia Day in Melbourne (Megan, Aidan, Lillian & Matt)

Next day we met Megan and Aidan (Aidan soon after asked me to be his brother!), and went around to visit their new house which is almost finished construction - and its only 5 minute walk from their current house. Temperature wise it was in the mid-20's today, and sunny. We popped into Melbourne city and walked around the centre. There was a great buzz about the place as it was Australia Day, and Melbourne was also hosting the Australian Open Tennis tournament. When we got home we had a barbeque in Shane & Megan's garden. We then caught up on some well earned sleep after our long (22 hour) flight.

Bell's Beach (a top spot for surfers)

Next day (Saturday) Shane took us on a drive around Victoria State and we got to visit Bell's Beach (where some of the film Break Point was shot), we had a picnic in Torquay (not the same Torquay where Fawlty Towers was based!), and we crossed on a car ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento (a 40 minute trip). That night we headed into Melbourne for an Indian meal, followed by a drink in an Irish pub - can't get away from them.

Today (Sunday) we went for hiking with Shane in Werribee Gorge, which is renound locally for its geological history. Here we saw some exotic Australian wildlife - a Koala bear, a falcon, lizards and some very colourful birds (looked like parrots). The temperature today seemed higher, and we went through plenty of suncream. Afterwards we visited the Organ Pipes, a 1 million year old volcanic formation, something in the same line as the Giant's Causeway.

Walking along a dried river bed.

Tomorrow we head off for New Zealand, so watch out for another posting soon!

Packing our bags - 9 days to go.

Just to get us off to a good start, here's a photo from last Spring in the Galtees. Lets hope the New Zealand summer will beat the good weather that we had that day!
Yesterday we started packing our bags - just 9 days to go...