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Michelle O'Riordan takes a year from rowing and travels the world. Part II - 24th March 2004.

Michelle's Grand Tour (part II)

Michelle O'Riordan
2006-03-12 12:41:00

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Hello peeps - its that time again for another diary installment so sit back, relax and immerse yourself in the tales of middle-earth...

New Zealand - the land of hobbits, elves, orcs, ents and...the one ring! Bring on green hills, snow-capped mountains and endless views that's what I came here for - to soak up the scenery and while away the days sitting on a mountain.
Seal at Le Bons Bay, Akaroa near Christchurch

New Zealand is made up of two islands - the north island where the majority of people live (mainly in Auckland) - a land of rolling hills, beautiful coastlines and volcanoes...including boiling mud pools, hot springs and lots of eggy sulphur. The south island in contrast is sparsely populated - it has a much more rugged untamed feel with towering snow-capped mountains, fjords and fur-flung remote hamlets which seem to be living in their own time-warp. Think hobbiton for the north island ??? for the south.

My journey through New Zealand was to begin in Christchurch, the biggest city in the south island although it is really more like a town. It is very very quaint and very very english! They even have a river where you can go punting. Christchurch has a new england feel about it with large wooden slatted houses, verandhas and pretty gardens. My plan was to spend a week here before flying up to Auckland to meet my friend Kate who had come all the way from England to spend a couple of weeks with me.

My first three days were a shock to the system as it was rainy and cold - all I wanted to do was go back to the heat of Australia. After that however, the weather picked up and I soon realised how fierce the sun is (they have no ozone layer). You have to put cream on all the time and even on cloudy days you can get burnt! After whiling my days away punting, getting into the relaxed pace of life over here and trying to make sense of the kiwi accent where they say 'igg' instead of 'egg', ...