Sorry we've been a bit rubbish at posting the last few days but there hasn't been an awful lot to report... We've been chilling out for a change... and trying to save the pennies!!
We left Queenstown having had our fill of adrenaline and began our 5 day trip back to Christchurch to catch our plane to Sydney. So far, Darren had been doing a fair amount of driving, so I really wanted us to take it a bit easier before Oz.
A couple of hours up the road from Queenstown is Alexandra where we stayed a night before taking the slightly longer trip to Dunedin. It is here where I developed the mother of all chest infections, which I still haven't been able to shake off. Grr.
Dunedin is, apparently, the furthest city from London. At first glance, it looks the same as all other Kiwi cities but went up dramatically in Darren's estimations when we discovered it was home to NZ's Cadbury's Factory. We finished the Cadbury's tour laden with free chocolate and I'm now engaged to a 'Perky-Nana' addict .
East of Dunedin is the Otago Peninsular, a bit of a wildlife haven and more specifically, home to a colony of Blue Penguins. If you're patient and are dressed for the cold winds that blow off the South Pacific, you can watch the penguins come in from their daily fishing trip and walk up the beach to their nests for the night. These guys are soooo cute! They stand about 30cm off the ground and will waddle right past you if you stand still enough. Best if you bring night vision goggles, though, as it's mainly their white chests that you can make out in the darkness.
From Dunedin we carried on to Oamaru for the night and then on to Akaroa, situated on another peninsular south of Christchurch. A quaint little town on the side of a harbour - nice for a kayak trip around the bay or swimming with dolphins if you have the money.
It's our last day in Christchurch with the camper today. THANK GOD. They've been good times, and it's been a better experience than I had anticipated, but I'll be glad to be back in a bed that you don't have to prepare each night and dismantle every morning. I'll also be glad to see the back of the sink that never really drained properly (stories too gross for this blog will have to wait for our return) and a toilet you have to empty by hand (stories even more revolting will be saved for those with a strong stomach!).
Last but definitely not least, we finally settled on an engagement ring yesterday and picked it up from the Jeweller today. The ring that my mum gave to Darren was meant to be a token until we found something that we both liked. It's absolutely beautiful and very sparkly! (Nikki, I have finally discovered diamonds!!). I shall show you all when we return.
We're off to Sydney on the 1st March so expect much more exciting stories then!
Love, Lou xx
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