It's all down hill from here...

When Jane woke me up this morning without her lipstick on I thought, "bugger, it's all down hill from here!" See artist's impression above.

But seriously, that's what she looks like first thing. Not like the bronzed Adonis that is me on awakening. He he, I'm going to get a smack in the mouth for that one, but I couldn't resist.

Now onto the travel blog bit:

We left Christchurch the day before yesterday. Not before time if you ask me. It wasn't my cup of tea if I'm honest. Not an awful lot to offer in terms of vibrancy, architecture or history but then when I go to a city, I compare it to those great British behemoths like Bath & London. Cities that are steeped in a millenia of history. Perhaps I was looking in the wrong places, or perhaps I was a little blinkered by the last remnants of jet lag. Who knows? In it's defence, we managed to find a couple of good eateries, which is always a plus, and a great little arts cinema. We even hired a couple of bikes for the afternoon and got 35km worth of exercise which was finished off beautifully by Jane doing her dying swan impression at a busy junction. She forgot she was clipped into her pedals, fell off sideways and dented an adjacent car with her head. The chap driving didn't have the heart to say anything. I promise you , I didn't laugh.

So on to Kaikoura. Just a short overnight stop on the way to Nelson, where we're going to base ourselves over the next six days. How exciting, my first ever night in a Motel. Woo hooo. I'm not joking when I tell you the proprietor had an uncanny resemblance to Anthony Perkins. Spooky. What a beautiful peninsula. Famous for it's whaling industry, although I'm not sure why, it was very quiet when we were there. Not even a whimper. Kaikoura Pictures

Breakfast and on to Nelson via the hills. Arrived and found our accommodation, which is great if a little limited in the kitchen department. But not to worry, our landlady can't do enough to oblige. As I write this she is washing my smalls, and also my undies. I was so impressed, I fixed her garage door - and that's not a euphemism. Well I thought it only fair, I did break it.

Ciao for now, I'm off to throw a couple of steaks onto the barbie. Mx