Kia Ora from New Zealand!

I'd better get my moaning out of the way before I go on.

 

Unfortunately the last couple of days have been a bit of a blur for me due to a severe onset of "man-flu". I began to feel a bit rough in Sydney (cold, cough, headache, fever, aching muscles, sore throat etc), missed two nights sleep, and then to make matters worse on the flight over to NZ my ears got blocked up and wouldn't clear. I ended up with two blocked nostrils and two blocked ears, and resorted to having to breath through my mouth and smell through my eyes, which wasn't easy. I spent my first 20 hours in New Zealand in bed. Maybe my body needed it though - we've been going full pelt for 4 months, and the last week in the outback was pretty tough. June was also a bit low yesterday, but has done an admirable job of looking after me. I think I'll let her keep the opal ring.

 

Anyway, we're both feeling much better now, and really looking forward to exploring New Zealand. We're in Christchurch on the South Island, which is a very pretty town set up by the Church of England about 150 years ago. It has a nice cathedral, punters lazily drifting down the River Avon, and picnic-ers lounging in the park. It feels a bit like an idealised version of England, and the people are all incredibly friendly and helpful.

 

The death of Sir Edmund Hillary has been pretty big news here, with flags flying at half-mast and books of condolence being signed. He's probably the most famous Kiwi that's ever lived - to be honest I can't think of many others - Jonah Lomu, Peter Jackson, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, urm...

 

Tomorrow we're going on a gondola trip up a nearby mountain, and on Tuesday we're heading off for a day trip to Mount Sunday, which was used as the location for Edoras in The Lord of the Rings films. It looks like a stunning place, and it will be really cool (in a geeky way) to be there and to pose for photos with props from the film. We'll report back in a few days. Bye for now.