Now THATS a decent sized guinea-pig!

Photos first today cos we can't make them go to the bottom...

Me and Jaz ice-skating

Jaz's rugby game

The guinea pig...(read on, and you will know what we are talking about)

The frost in Hanmer

Sharing the road with sheep

Me buried at the rock beach in Kaikoura

This cool little sculpture at the beach in Kaikoura

Bluey checking out the view in Kaikoura

Hi there everyone!

We are currently staying with my Aunty Brenda and her family (Tyler who is 16, his girlfriend Layla, Jaz who is 14, and Jayde who is 9 and Bren's husband Steve who is actually in Sydney atm) in Southbridge, near Christchurch, which is like halfway down the South Island on the east coast. So it's great here with the family, been a while since I've seen everyone, and they hadn't met Boh so yeah it's been fun to catch up!

Ok so we've probably skipped a little bit...it's always hard to remember our last blog...I guess I should probably read the last one before I write the new ones! I think...we left you guys in Blenheim, and from there we headed down to Kaikoura, which is like THE most beautiful place we have been so far! It was amazing! It's a beachside town, but get this...there were MOUNTAINS...with SNOW...like right behind the town, pretty awesome backdrop. The place we stayed there had a spa too, so it was really crazy to sit in the spa with that view, and also to wake up, stick our heads out the door, and the first thing you see is these amazing mountains!

Yeah and on our way there we stopped to look at this seal colony, which was super-amazing, like all these seals just hanging out on the rocks (like hundreds and hundreds), sun-bathing (well they would have been if there was any sun...) so we took a few photos of them just from the side of the road. They are really camoflauged too so you could pretty much drive past and not even see them, but we are in the know so we were keeping a look out...

So we stayed the night there, then hung out until like lunchtime so we wouldn't have to drive on scary icy roads. We had a coffee, walked around the town a bit (it's actually a really cute town, reminded us of Denmark!) and had a look at the beach, which was REALLY cool...cos there was NO sand...weird huh? lol Yeah it was just like little rocks and pebbles, some of them greenstone, so we played with the rocks for a while...you wouldn't believe how much fun it could be...haha.

Then after a treat for lunch (fish'n'chips..mmmm), we headed off to Hanmer Springs, which is inland from there, and is one place I remember going to last time I came over with the family. The drive to there was made pretty epic by the huge herd of sheep that happened to be borrowing the road for a bit. Pretty funny catching up with like every one of the many many cars that had passed us throughout the drive! Unlucky...

First thing about Hanmer was the COLD...it was soooo freezing. By the time we rocked up, there was just time for a quick spin around town to check out our caravan park options, before booking in, cooking dinner, and heading off to bed. The morning saw some awesome frost, and iced over puddles, and ice condensation on the inside of the van windows which, I am sad to say, entertained us for a fair while...

Playing mini-golf was our big activity in Hanmer, and it was not so great for me cos I got put off my game by the infuriating little kids infront of us (who takes a 2yr-old kid to play mini-golf anyway...), and Boh picked up on the weakness and actually managed to beat me...sigh...

So we decided not to stay another night there because we were afraid we may freeze to death...therefore we pressed on to Christchurch. The only thing of note that happened on the way there was that we pulled over to check out this obstacle course thing (we ended up being too expensive...but thats not the story...), and we spotted the owner's pet pig...yeah pretty cool huh?! So we patted the pig, and just as we were leaving, another guy walked up, and said to the owner guy "now thats a decent sized guinea-pig you got there" - completely deadpan - which had us in hysterics back in the car...haha... So from now on anything big...shall be called a decent sized guinea-pig...lol.

Since then we have been hanging out with my cousins, went and watched Jaz's rugby game yesterday, which was awesome! Jaz scored a try, and her team won, so that was great fun to see some good rugby! Then we met up with my Uncle Lance, and cousin Holly, who also live in Christchurch, and we went Ice-skating, which was cold and painful, due to badly fitting skates! And really quite scary, as we havn't been ice-skating since yr 8 camp! Fun though!

So now we are just hanging out, as we are a bit scared to go anywhere cos Bren said its supposed to snow soon! Boh is super excited! Had a massive pancake cook-up this morning, and Layla introduced us to what she says is the Kiwi way of eating pancakes...brace yourselves...it may sound gross, but we have been converted now so we will make you all eat it when we get back!

Pancakes, maple syrup, fried bananas....and bacon!

Trust me its goooood!

So I guess we will post again soon.

xoxox