After 27.5 gruelling hours from the time I left Heathrow (at 10pm one night) until I reached New Zealand, with the only respite being a quick refuelling stop in Singapore and 3 hours in Melbourne to change planes, it was an arduous journey even for me, a somewhat seasoned traveller in all things long haul nowadays. But as I stepped off the plane in NZ and was flooded in the glorious sunshine and bathed by the afternoon heat it seemed all worthwhile.

Unfortunately the weather was not to hold out and remained variable for the rest of my stay here. One minute it was warm and sunny, the next cold and windy and the next raining. Travel weary and jet-lagged, the remainder of my first day, I concentrated all my energy on staying awake until a decent hour of the evening, and then totally crashed out for several hours.

The following day, my parents (who I'd met up with out there) and I had a day out in Christchurch, souvenir shopping, chilling out and generally enjoying a day together.

The main reason I had ventured to this part of the world though was for a wedding. I read a poem in the church. The whole day was a lot like an English wedding except more modern, shorter and sweeter. No hymns in the church. The reception was interesting in that all the speeches came before the meal rather than after and all the drinks were free throughout the day. Apart from being let down by the weather it was a superb day and not one to be missed. The reception was treated to an immense thunder storm and lightening display.

The following day the bride's family (who we were staying with) had an Open Day/After Wedding Party. So we ended up drinking most of the day. The weather unfortunately turned horrible and rained heavily.