Over the sea to New Zealand

We left Cairns after seriously downgrading our gear (Linda, expect a couple of large parcels over the next few months!) to start our three day travel to New Zealand. Two days on the train, passing all the stops we'd previously jumped off, this journey took forever. Eventually arriving in Brisbane we were glad to see the back of anymore Oz trains and the colourful characters we had the privilege of travelling with over the months!!!

We were greeted in Brisbane with an extremely warm welcome by Taryn, Dawn and Dave. We were immediately plied with food and alcohol and a delicious bbq courtesy of Dave. We drank whiskey late into the evening and were really sad not to be able to stay longer. Thank you very much!

The following day involved a quick en-route tour of the area before arriving at the airport. The first of our flights, butterflies fluttering, New Zealand here we come!

The bio-security that greet us on arrival in Auckland was thorough! All our camping and walking gear was meticulously checked and cleaned. Our plane was delayed and we were really against the clock to catch our internal flight. With minutes to spare we caught our next flight to Christchurch. By the time we arrived we were both knackered. The hostel, thankfully, would have to take the number one spot for best place we've stayed at (apart from Sydney of course Les!). We had a great base to explore Christchurch.