Hi Everyone!
I have uploaded the rest of my photos (well, not all of them but a selection) and now my eyes are all funny from looking at the screen too long. So this will be a short diary entry. Yesterday I went to Edoras, somewhere I've wanted to go since I last came to NZ. The journey took about two hours but we finally arrived and were treated to a stunning view of the plains with Mount Sunday (on which Edoras was built) right in the middle. We drove up the Mouny Sunday but our 6 wheel drive truck got stuck and we had to wait about an hour and a half whilst our tour guide walked back to base and got someone to come and pull us out. It was really quite funny. We eventually got up Mount Sunday and were told about the differnt views used in the movie - hence the pictures entitled 'views in LOTR', you'll have to figure out when they were featured. We then got to have pictures taken with some movie replicas. It was a really great day out - and it was so hot, except for on Mount Sunday where winds can reach up to 180km per hour. It wasn't as windy as that when we went though, thank goodness.
Today I had a cultural day. I went to the Christchurch Arts Centre in the morning, and then I strolled around the Botanical Gardens. The gardens were the best thing I've done in Christchurch. They had a number of exhibitions, included one on poisonous plants which was displayed like a graveyard and had information about all the poisonous plants there, including potatoes and rhubarb. You learn something new everyday. The rose garden, which is always my favourite, was fantastic. The weather was also great too, something which I've been extremely lucky with whilst I've been here. I then went to the Canterbury Museum which was really good as well. They had lots of things on the Moari culture and the settlement of the Europeans in NZ, as well as lots of other things. I then did a bit of last minute souvenire shopping before uploading my pictures (which took ages, so you better appreciate them, lol).
I'm headed to Sydney tomorrow and really looking forward to seeing Alex and Gen again.
I'll update again as soon as I can,
lots of love,
Helenxxx
p.s. thanks for all your notes in the Guestbook - its so nice to hear from home and really appreciated!
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