I'm recently back from a too-short trip to New Zealand to visit a couple of mates from the old country. Though I didn't stay long enough to take part in any adventure or outdoorsy stuff I was there long enough to see just how much more like back home the place is, especially compared to Sydney. So much so in fact that getting off the plane in Christchurch and seeing a vista of green and treeless hills and fields, lots of green farms and then a road sign pointing for Belfast, caused me to do a double take. Any huge similarity to Ireland starts to fade though once you get to the city and see the streets laid out in a nice grid with individual bungalows stretching off in all directions. Christchurch centre itself is fairly small for a city of its size and seems to be centred around the Cathedral (which didn't get a break the entire time I was there from the cameras of Asian tourists). There was a lot less damage from the big earthquake than I was expecting; isolated buildings like pubs and restaurants had either collapsed or had been subsequently pulled down but by and large the visible damage seemed to be confined to collapsed chimneys, toppled masonry, and outer walls that had to be supported by metal beams. Got to drive up the hills that back on to the city the next day, up very tight roads hugging the sides of steep mountain sides which had absolutely no barrier most of the way. Seeing as I've become more of a scaredy cat in my old age I had to concentrate on not closing my eyes as we drove up. Almost as surprising was seeing how many cyclists were up doing the same thing as us - actually, I saw a huge number of people out cycling and running while there. From that top, with Christchurch spread out below you can see a long like of alpine mountains in the distance, the sort of mountains that filled so many background shots in Lord of the Rings, and the sort of mountains you just can't find here. The next day we took a day trip up into them, to "Arthurs Pass". It was a great drive, across huge stoney river beds, past lots of weird rock formations (including one where they filmed the first Narnia movie) and eventually up high enough to see snow at the edge of the road. Along the way we got to see quite a few Kea birds, the only alpine parrot - quite big, unafraid of people and happy to chomp down on anything, including rubber seals on car doors. Ronan flew down from Wellington while I was in Christchurch and we then drove back up, catching a ferry to the North Island from Picton. On the way we stopped for a night in a small town called Kaikoura, famous for whale watching. I was a little reluctant to go fork out the cash for it again after the experience in Sydney, but this time round was a better experience. The snow capped mountains provided a great back drop, the seas were calm (despite a confusing warning of sea sickness - surely a scam to sell sea-sickness pills!), and we were allowed get much closer to the whales - close enough to actually see them this time! Wellingon despite being around the same size as Christchurch definitely felt more like a big city, probably because of all the government business, its got a great museum with a Maori name - Te Papa - and is squeezed up the hillsides overlooking a nice harbour. We also got to drive out for one day of wine tasting in the Martinborough region northeast of the city, and then crash into a duck on our way back (I was NOT driving). It was great to catch up with my fellow expats in the antipodeas, just too bad I didn't get a chance to see and fjords or volcanos or see the haka or perform any suicidal bungee jumps..

Tis the season to go whale watching. Or so I thought. Around this time of year whales pass by Sydney harbour on their way to escape the freezing water of the Antarctic. The cruise companies at the harbour have brochures with big glossy photos of humpback whales breaching and twisting in the air. The reality was a little different though.          Look at all those whales!! At the start we managed to find a pod of dolphins and they swam along side us for a while. Trying to take a photo was impossible though - I have plenty of shots of empty sea, taken about a milisecond after they've disappeared under the surface. We were in a fairly small katamarang boat which was easily knocked about in the swell of the ocean. Actually, that part was kind of cool - I'd never been in a boat that felt so vulnerable to the open sea. And it was also interesting to watch the previously loud and cheery fellow whale watchers reduced to wretches, sitting with their heads on their knees and clutching sick bags. Interesting only because I escaped the worst. Watching other people get sick is only so much fun though, and while we did follow a couple of whales for a while, mostly they were just sprays of water a few hundred meters away. Stayed out for a long time, but after three hours and lots of sick stomachs everybody was glad to head back. Finished the day in a nice city centre micro brewery with lots of weird and expensive beers. I haven't taken to a lot of Sydney bars because the outsides of a lot of them, for historical reasons, resemble the insides of pub toilets back home - not exactly inviting. But this place was pretty cool and probably worth a return visit. Most of the time here at a cashier for coffee or juice or something, they ask for your name so they can give you a shout when your order is ready. Unfortunately for me this has lead to a few embarrassingly loud misunderstandings when they don't get my name right. So recently I've just decided to go with a name-of-the-day system. A couple of days ago I was "Joe", and today I was going to be "Chris" until the eejet in front of me decided to be Chris as well which forced me to come up with an improvised "Andy". The cashier gave me a squinty look, but I think she bought it.