Well part 1 is now over and we have moved on to New Zealand. Once we'd made it through the rather strict customs and imigrations we got to our hostel in Christchurch. On arrival Tiff was given a map of the city and the first thing the guy did was cross through the middle section- the CBD is a no go area. On walking through the city the destruction of the earthquake is evident. There are big fences around the whole of the CBD- one big building sight currently. We passed a few beautiful old buildings on our way to the supermarket, all half fallen down. It was really quiet shocking to see the destruction and to realise they have not even started to rebuild this once beautiful city. The next day we headed to Akaroa, a french settlement just over an hour from Christchurch. We were staying on a farm in the middle of no where! it was gorgeous the views from the hostel over the harbour and the peace and quiet! we spent our time here relaxing in hammocks(well when Tiff wasn't falling out of them!) and kayaking with Dolphins! Tiff also went swimming with Dolphins and had an amazing time. The Dolphins here are Hector Dolphins and are the smallest in the world- it was very cool them swimming along side our kayaks! And then of course I can't fail to mention the shakey next few days! One afternoon when Tiff was in town and I was chilling in the hostel the first earthquake hit. This one a 5.9M pretty big! and really quiet unnerving! I joined everyone else in the hostel sitting outside being a little freaked out whilst the ground continued to shake with aftershocks fairly regularly. Tiff remained down in the town for the whole afternoon waiting for things to calm down. We then had the second big one hit just over an hour later, a 6M this time. And it would hit just as I was making a cupper, spilling my tea everywhere! That one did feel really quite violent and at that point the library where Tiff was decided to shut. The owner of the hostel stayed with us all afternoon and gave out fee icecream which was nice! The shakes continued on and off the rest of that day and continued into christmas eve (another 5.1M hit whilst in bed) and Christmas day also(at this point we were in Christchurch) but it didn't stop us having a good time! You weirdly get used to them- although it is not right the ground moving like that!
Enough of the earthquakes! Christmas Day! we were staying in Haka Lodge in Christchurch, a brand new hostel! We shared Christmas eve and Christmas day with 4 other British people! We went to a church in the morning which was quiet traditional but lovely all the same. Then back to the hostel for a lovely feast of choccies and biscuits from the hostel staff and our post! (Which the hostel staff had hidden from everyone as a xmas surprise!) We embraced the warm Christmas(I'd like to say hot but it was a bit overcast and windy) and had a BBQ along with everyone else in the hostel before settling in to watch some movies! Later on we had a lovely surprise as the girls from belgium that we'd met in melbourne turned up with their friend Stephen! Christmas day although sad because we were away from friends and family( really enjoyed all our skype chats too!) was really fun!
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