A quick update

Hi All,

Just a quick post to let you know what we've been up to and to let you all know that we won't update properly until the 15th(ish) when we arrive in Christchurch and get ready to travel to pastures new (Oz). Also, we'd like to thank you all for your Christmas, New Year and Birthday wishes, you can't understand how important these were to us being away from everybody at a time of year when the main theme is friends and family, so thanks to you all.

We spent Christmas Day in a town called Kiakora which is on the East coast, North of Christchurch for those of you that like to get maps out and check. It was odd, odd, odd, the big shiny thing was in the sky providing very unchristmas like heat, the caravan park we were on suddenly became the most deserted place on the planet, but all the same we cooked our turkey and roastie's and enjoyed it with some nice wine that we had bought from the Marlborough wine region on a little cycle tour.
On boxing day we went out on a boat trip and saw Sperm Whales which was pretty awe inspiring (if not a little expensive) and well worth it.
On the 30th, we picked up Randy and Amanda who we had met in Fiji (and in Thames by accident) and headed for Banks Peninsula (East of Christchurch) to celebrate New Year's Eve. This turned out to be a bit of a no go as everywhere was rammed and we couldn't find anywhere to camp for love or money. So we headed to Timaru (South of Christchurch) and found free camping there next to the beach, ideal except for the fact that it was an alcohol free area, but we didn't let this get in the way of us having fun and seeing in the new year in typical english style.
We spent the next week with Randy and Amanda and dotted ourselves all over the place, camping for free where possible or as cheaply as possible. The highlight was a couple of days in Omarama, we found a backpackers in the middle of nowhere (almost) and spent a couple of days there, hiking, hitch hiking and mountain walking.
We said goodbye to Randy and Amanda in Oamaru which was quite sad as we'd had such a great time with these guys and hopefully we'll see them again in Oz. We headed south oursleves to Nugget Point to see Seals and Sea Lions.
Kaz has just told me that I'm going into too much detail as we will be updating properly in Christchurch, so I'll leave the rest as a surprise!
Until then, be well and happy,

Rich and Kaz