NEW ZEALAND day 1

view of a flooded river in Queensland

view of the Tasman Sea, i love the clouds.

back in the lovely cold, same jeans and boots !

the Hagglund ride. i went for a ride on this and it was great, they take you over a course that is similar to the Antarctic

Finally here after what felt like forever. Boarded the plane in Darwin at 12.30am on the 1st January. When new year rang in i was in the security line being frisked or swiped as they don't actually touch you, the man doing the swiping stopped and said ' happy new year' are you carrying drugs or explosives ?. After getting on the plane we sat there and sat and sat, paper work for the flight would not print so we sat some more till we finally took off. Landed in Brisbane around 7am and then spent the day in the airport because it was raining outside and didn't stop all day. At 6pm we were told we couldn't board our flight because it hadn't turned up, still making its way from Fiji, so we sat for about 30 Min's. When it arrived we got to watch the baggage handlers throw our bags on board, and throw they did...i wish i hadn't witnessed that. Finally in the air we set out across the pond, the Tasman Sea, landed in Christchurch at 1am and by 2am i was in bed. I was so tired i felt ill. 41 hours with no sleep. This morning i woke at 11am and went back to the airport to get the hire car only to find i had to go to the depot to pick it up, the depot turned out to be next to my hotel !! if i had looked to the left when walking out the door i would have seen it. The car is a white Mazda Familia 4 door, 12 years old but seems to run well. Next stop was the Antarctic Centre on the other side of the hotel. It was interesting and i braved the cold and entered the storm room where you experience a blizzard in Antarctica. The temp was only -8 with a wind chill of -16, bahh that's nothing, the kids and i lived in temps of -17 in Salzburg. It was still fun and i met a mother and daughter from Canberra. Now I'm back in the room and suddenly very tired again so it looks like an early night. The hotel is OK but the room has no aircon or fans and the windows only open a few inchs so its a bit stuffy. My travel email is ciaobello@europe.com, cute address. It's strange not having the kids with me but i do have their pictures on the dash board. Tomorrow i plan to head to Arthur's Pass. Till then ciao from Christchurch.