For those who haven't been to Christchurch, I think it would be fair to say they may be surprised by just how quaint and English style the whole city is. We took full advantage of the tram in the city centre that takes tourists to some of the major attractions – I think we must have gone around the loop at least half a dozen times in the end! The Art Gallery confused me a little, I was convinced I hadn't seen it despite having stayed on that street before. However it opened in 2003 and I was last here May 2002, so that helped explain the mystery. There are some architectural delights including the old university buildings which now hold the Arts Centre with several arts and crafts shops, a theatre, a cinema and a ballet company. Close by is the Botanical Gardens and the museum. Since David and I are returning to Christchurch at the end of our time in NZ, we left our visit to the museum till then, but we strolled around the gardens, smelled the roses and climbed a couple of trees. We also saw ducklings on the river, which is punted in true Cambridge style. Instead of being able to have a go yourself though, “Edwardian” gentlemen take you for a tour complete with full outfits and plummy accents. In the Cathedral in the centre of the Square, we were treated to singing from a female choir while looking around – next time I think I would like to walk up the spire, as I remember the views being great but this time we ran out of time.

Just outside of the main city was the Antarctic Experience. Apparently Christchurch is where many of the planes bound for the frozen continent leave from, and various countries including the USA and, unsurprisingly, New Zealand base their preparatory areas here. It was an interesting place with a chance to experience an Antarctic storm – we wrapped up in borrowed jackets and entered a freezer where the temperature was -18

Dunedin is Gaelic for Edinburgh, and is a city in the south with a rather Scottish air – not really very surprising when you consider this was a large settlement for many Scottish immigrants. It was the first city in the South Island, with a cathedral that was constructed in two parts due to money restraints. This has led to a gothic building with the altar area being in a rather more modern 70s style, I understand architectural styles change over time but it does seem somewhat of an unfortunate mismatch. There are other lovely buildings in Dunedin, including the train station with its stained glass windows. However train travel has been surpassed in New Zealand by roads, maybe a little shortsightedly in my mind, and now only a tourist train, which leads to a dead end because of the removal of track, is the only visitor to this prestigious building.

However two areas of industry that are continuing to do well in the city are the Cadburys factory and the Speights brewery, both of which offer tours and both of which we decided we couldn't miss. The Cadburys factory was busily making Easter eggs when we were there, apparently they make them between June and January each year and it takes New Zealanders the whole of a week to eat all this chocolate! We were encouraged to listen to the talks and video presentations since correct answers to questions led to prizes of chocolate. I think David did the best out of this by 'looking sweet' as our tour guide and being awarded chocolate anyway. The smell around the factory is one of the most tempting you can imagine, but we managed to resist buying too much in the shop. In fact, our surprising bargain was some waterproof trousers they had on sale for $25 and which have been much in use already! We actually found out that the local supermarket was doing a better deal on Dairy Milk than the factory shop.

After dinner we headed back in to town to the Speights Brewery, this was the only brewery to still use wooden gyles for brewing some of their craft beers. Apparently there had been one other near Portsmouth but it had been recently bought out and so the tradition went with the exchange of contracts. It was a gravity based brewery which meant all the ingredients were put in at the top of the building and the process continued as you headed downstairs. At the end of the tour, we all had chance to taste a selection of their brews, and were able to pull our own mini-pints! This wasn't something I'd ever done before and I was pretty chuffed at my efforts. While we were supping the beer, some of the brewery's adverts were played including their birthday advert in which sheep and a dog sang them happy birthday, one I could easily imagine being rather popular.

After I told my sister I had been scuba diving and snorkelling in Fiji, she promptly told me to watch out for coral and make sure any scratches I had were checked out. I didn't really think too much of this despite having scraped my leg twice on coral, but figured I'd keep an eye on it. Sure enough most of it looked to be healing absolutely fine, apart from one area, Using Inadine (an iodine soaked dressing) to keep the wound clean, it surprised me how the scratch didn't improve. Soon after arrival in New Zealand, I visited a pharmacist who sent me straight to the doctors. He was originally from Dorset and had worked lots on the windsurfing champion circuit. Apparently hydrogen peroxide is the best weapon against coral poisoning, and it can be very serious. He told me that it wasn't that unusual for people not to think about it and end up in hospital because the wound ulcerates. Thankfully he told me my wound looked pretty good – the Inadine is good stuff! But still I had to be put on a course of antibiotics for 10 days, apparently a week's worth is not enough to shift the infection caused by this innocent looking animal/plant. I've finished the course and my leg looks fine now, however I thought it'd be worth warning others how mean coral can be!