And breath...

So I am in Wellington again! Considering I spent a large section of my time in Wellington fretting, you might wonder how I feel being here for the second time in as many weeks... SO RELIEVED!
I am very happy with where I am staying! It is in a nice location and there are buses here throughout the day, I am only a few minutes walk from the sea. Coincidentally if I walked up the road I am on, and kept following it, I could walk both to the zoo, and to the last place I stayed in Wellington! It is raining and I am exhausted to bits, but if that's all I have to complain about then I am lucky indeed! I have booked a flight back to Christchurch from here, as that is where I will be flying home from, and it was cheaper to fly than take the coach/ferry AGAIN! I am in bed with a hot water bottle, I had Dinosaur pasta for tea, I have my own bathroom again. What's not to smile about. If only my favourite people were here to enjoy it with me, but I am happy to post something with less than my usual amount of moaning!
I hope you are all snug in your beds! Don't get up today, have a lie in... ALL DAY! Make sure to watch Lord of the rings and eat Pumpkin soup. You can eat a whole cake for dinner, don't feel guilty, blame me. Have lovely days the lot of you!
Tomorrow I may do no more than wash my hair, but I may do much more! I have no idea, it mostly depends on the weather. I with you all lots of love, xx

Where's the Diazepam?

It's 5.15 and I just woke up to the sound of rain hard on my window. I now have to get up, pack, take a taxi into the city and stand in that rain before travelling on coach and then ferry for ten and a half hours. Why won't New Zealand stop following me? Everywhere I go, New Zealand seems to be there too! Where's Britain? Where's my bed? Where's my Diazepam, right, I'm going to need that.

Well I'm not going to tell you about yesterday if that's what you're thinking.

No seriously, I'm saving that!
Today I took the ferry from Wellington to Picton and the coach from Picton to Christchurch. I felt dreadful leaving the home in Wellington, not Wellington itself, I hadn't got to know it yet, but the home, my hosts and Juno were reluctantly left behind. The ferry trip was heartbreakingly beautiful, taking me entirely by surprise as I had no preconceived idea of what it would be like. The coach trip too had some beautiful scenery, although I must admit I had a severe case of coach trip paranoia (a phenomena quite common for me) and was convinced not only that the other passengers hated me, but that everyone I love would be dead by the time I reached my destination! I bumped into Simon and our well meaning dutch girl (whose name I can't spell!) from my last home stay who were in Kaikoura where we stopped off for a 30 refreshment break, small world! (Or country.) I did need to take 2 more buses once I got to Christchurch, something I did with little problem but much worrying. Not I am here, my Host has assured my there's "not much to do in Christchurch." How... Refreshing! We shall see what tomorrow brings, I am tired and right now I would sooner be back in Wellington or even Auckland. Good night!

3 days in one!

Well, I don't have an awful lot to say to be honest, it has been a 'heavy' few days in my head if I'm honest so I may not have been able to enjoy the last 3 days to their full potential. On Sunday I did a beach and rainforest walk. I had a lovely guide and was accompanied by two men from Shanghai and an Australian mother and daughter. Mostly pictures will suffice for this one, so that's what you'll get! My camera battery ran out at the last stop (the one I'd been most excited about) so I have very few photos of that.
The next day was my coach ride from Auckland and Wellington which went ahead without incident (actually, we had an emergency tyre change, but it was pretty hassle free) so there's not much to report on that front, again, pictures to follow.
Lastly I am here in Wellington, the hose is amazing and so are the hosts. They have a cat, Juno, she is a black (smoke) Oriental (which if you don't know, is a Siamese in a different colour) who is lovely and friendly, loud and purrs but has a Jekyll and Hyde style personality and will turn and attack you with no warning, it's quite funny really.
My room is lovely, but cold compared to my baking hot room in Auckland! This house is so full of life in comparison, there are two other guests, a young couple from Switzerland and Holland.
My Day began with me happily playing Ukulele outside, only for the well meaning Dutch girl to offer to walk me into town, then she walked me onto a bus and to the museum. My only plans for today were to relax (because I was very stressed) and then find my route into the city ready for when I needed it tomorrow morning, taking note of when and where the bus stopped, the name and route of the bus and bus stop, and how to get from there to the tourist information building. Well I had my plan, and then every part of it got changed and I found myself at the museum, having got the wrong bus, in the wrong place, etc etc, only to be told "Right, I'll be off then, you will be okay, wont you?" Um.... NO. There I was at the Museum, for no apparent reason, unable to go back to the house for fear of offending the girl who had taken me there for no apparent reason, and having no idea how to get back even if I wanted to. I went into melt down and found myself totally unable to work out what to do next. I'm not writing this to indulge some part of myself that wants to moan (well, just a little) I am writing this so I can rightly tell you what happened next.
The kindest two people came along and helped me. They calmed me down, they offered to buy me coffee, they walked with me all the way to the train station (their idea) and help me find the buses I would need on Friday when I move one. They left me with kind words, a map and a prayer for my success for the rest of my travels. They left me with more gratitude than I can possibly express and I have tears in my eyes even as I write this. I wish I had a way to tell them how much their kindness touched me. Their names are Elizabeth and Martin, they come from England. I feel proud to be British, and proud to be human, we're not a bad bunch. Thank you Beth and Martin.
(And it took me over and hour and a half to find my way home from the bus!)
Now photos...

There's always been a Baggins, living here under the Hill in Bag End. And there always will be...

Well then, lets see if you can guess what THIS one's about!! I got up at 5.30am, (yes that's right, it exists!) and got the coach. We travelled through the slightly dull countryside which always seemed to look better through the windows on the other side of the coach! We stopped of in the town of Cambridge, the equestrian centre of... I don't know, New Zealand? Waikato? The North island? ...of somewhere anyway. I learnt there is a Maori king and there are 53 old volcanos in Auckland. (such as Mt Eden where I'm staying.) we travelled for about two hours before stopping at a disappointing gravel car park in the middle of nowhere with a few small, un exciting buildings. There we go on another bus with a new guide and THAT'S where it turned into PURE MAGIC (no exaggeration). Have you ever been so overwhelmed buy something good or bad that happened that you don't tell anyone because there's now way you could ever convey how big and important it is to you? Yes? No? Well that's the situation, right here, right now. So all I will say is I will be coming back here, and the Green Dragon/bridge/water mill was the best! (Huge understatements!)
Enjoy the photos, I have about 100.
Lisa, I thought of you a lot! You would love it, I hope you like the photos.
(The Green Dragon was made more fantastical with the addition of beautiful fiddle music and an earthenware mug of fiery Ginger beer!)