Christchurch and Kaikoura

From Queenstown it was a 9 hour journey to Christchurch which wasn't ideal and when we got there it was freezing cold so no one was in a particularly good mood. Christchurch seems to be dominated by roadworks and other building developments which is understandable. In February 2011 the very centre of Christchurch got the full brunt of an earthquake. It hit around lunch time so understandably a lot of damage was done. As ignorant as this sounds I was expecting more to have been done in 2 and a half years. Apparently it will take 10 to 15 years to complete all the work. Like I said we arrived late afternoon and went for a walk and into the Red Zone, most of the shops and cafes have been set up in shipping containers which make it look quite cute. The problem was everywhere was deserted and/or closed. So overall I wasn't impresses with Christchurch but I wasnt there long enough to make a proper judgement. I met someone who had been couch surfing there and he'd had a great time, there were bars in old school buses!
My throat had been a bit scratchy for a day or two and when I woke up to leave for Kaikoura I had developed a full blown cold so I haven't really been up to much. Kaikoura itself is a really cute little town and some of the stops we did along the way would have been nice to stay for a few days. There is an abundance of wildlife in Kaikoura and we stopped at a seal colony and got within a metre of some so that was pretty cool. There are loads of other activities to do like Whale Watching, Dolphin Swimming and Swimming with seals. I really wanted to do Dolphin Swimming but deemed it daft with my current state of health. However, the people that did do it said it was incredible as they were wild dolphins so hopefully I'll get to do something similar in Australia. You could also go Cray fishing which sounded awesome as for $80 you got to catch your own crayfish (or a few of youre lucky) and loads of other seafood and then cook it all. Given the price of a whole Cray fish can be as high as $90 this was a bargain.
We went out to a pub quiz that night and I sampled some of the local mussels that were quite nice but didn't stay out too long as I started to feel worse.
The next day I literally felt like I was dying so slept the majority of the journey back up to Wellington which totalled another 9 hours including a ferry crossing.
I'm spending my last few days in the Taranaki area visiting some old friends we used to know in Saudi Arabia so that should be a nice few days of nostalgia. I also need to get some nights accommodation booked for Sydney as I'll be there in 4 days.
In totally unrelated news, I finally confirmed university choices so in September I will be an Adult Nursing student at Kings College London. Its pretty exciting and I've already started planning all the stuff I'm going to need to buy. Aaaand if any of my friends are reading this I'm expecting you all to come visit as it'd be a relatively cheap holiday!
Xxx