Our First Few Days 'Acclimatising'

We were picked up from the airport by Linda & Alistair, our landlady/lord. Pete went 'home' in style, in a Jaguar. I had to make do with Ralph- an old Golf convertible. Why two cars? If you have seven, you might as well use them all. The Rolls was a bit ill that day, such a shame!

This is our home, we sleep upstairs on the right hand side.

The very first thing we did after arriving at midday was walk into the city centre and re-familiarise ourselves with the place. Of course, that meant finding the Dux de Lux pub, for a well earned pint and a plate of nachos, sitting on a lovely sunny terrace. Thanks Helen! That same evening we met up with a few friends, in another pub. Tiredness and lack of sleep after 2 days travelling forced us to stop drinking at 1am!

Our first few days in Christchurch were spent quite leisurely; either on the beach or lying around in the park. It was tough, but someone had to do it!

LEFT:River Avon running through Hagley Park.

RIGHT: New Brighton Beach

In order not to break tradition, we soon found ourselves a set of classy wheels so we are the proud owners of a 1987 Holden Commodore.

As you can see, it is the long lost brother of the Vauxhall Cavalier we left behind in England. However, it is a bit of a thirsty beast! The 'Honky' mobile has 6 cylinders and a 3 litre engine. At first that is quite a novelty and good fun as it means one can put the hammer to the metal, cut in and out of gaps and generally drive like a hoon. The only downside is the fuel needle drops rather quickly. As usual for us, with the purchase of this quality motor, the bank was not broken! We actually bought the car fairly cheaply off a couple of backpackers who were flying out the next day. Extras that came with the car included a guitar and an American Football and not to forget; a leaking boot. No changes there, then!