Cathedral Square, Christchurch
Well, here I am across the Tasman in New Zealand. After the week of waiting for something to do, I've now got literally hundreds of things to do (according to my Lonely Planet). The flight over was fine, I managed to get an entire row to myself after moving seats. I was glad I did too, because when we started flying over the Western coast of the South Island the views were amazing. At first I thought there were low clouds along the coastline, like you see sometimes when you're flying about - but when we got nearer I could see that they were snow-capped mountains. The Southern Alps pretty much run the length of the South Island's West coast, plunging into the sea on one side and giving way to farmland on the other. But seen from the air, they look incredible - massive jagged peaks with glaciers pushing away down the slopes. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen from a plane. After we landed, I got a bus into the city centre to wait for Julie who's given up her living room floor for two days. I liked Christchurch immediately - I think in part because it's so cold over here, coming from the Australian 'autumn' it really seems like I'm in another country...
