Wow - what a place! It's absolutely stunning - snow capped mountains surrounding a huge lake & a nice quaint town by the shore.. The drive here was interesting - we had to go over the Mackenzie plateau from Christchurch which I think is around 2000 feet high.  There was a massive snowstorm a few weeks back on the South Island, so needless to say there was tonnes of it on the drive up.  The views were amazing - hoar frost & snow everywhere. Every lake we drove by had steam rising off it - quite incredible.

Got a job here the other day - in a restaurant by the lake - guaranteed at least 20 hours a wk which ain't bad. That'll pay for accomodation & food.  Will have to get a ski-pass at some point too. Bleedin expensive!

Took advantage of a crazy deal this morning - a local airstrip were doing cheapo trial flights for 50 dollars (25 quid sterling) so I signed up with another Irish guy I met.  What I didn't realise was the plane was only a two seater, I got to sit in the pilots seat & flew for twenty minutes! I had total control of the plane in the air!!

Right - gotta head and find a flat somewhere..

Will upload some photos at some point!

Arrived in Christchurch two days ago - quite English & very like Cambridge (it has it's own river with punts & even it's university is a mimic).. Not sure if you could really call Christchurch a city - quite small actually & have seen most if not all of it already. Saw the Pacific for the first time - tonnes of surfers taking advantage of the waves.

Off to Lake Wanaka tomorrow morn then maybe Queenstown a few days later.

Roll on the mountains!

Spent three days in Singapore & four in Bangkok -both interesting places..

Bangkok: it's probably the most crazy, dirty & busy city I've ever been too. It's also the most hot & humid - it's impossible not to change your clothes at least once a day (unless you're quite happy being the dirty, smelly backpacker..) 

Was staying in a really nice guesthouse with air-con for less than 15 euro - bargain. Was called New Siam 1. Quite close to the old town & around the corner from Khao San road (from The Beach). First thing that hit me when I arrived was the traffic - jam after jam after jam!  The city's infrastructure is seriously fucked up with not much in the way of transport friendly to tourists.  The only real option is either tuktuk or river express boat.  Tuktuks are pretty interesting - they're basically a 3-wheeled motorised rickshaw - when you get them, your heart is in your mouth as you weave between cars & taxis at 100 miles an hour! And the back is open so you're exposed to rain, fumes etc. Rented one for 50p the first day which was dirt cheap. Only thing is when you don't pay a premium you have to endure stop after stop involving vendors trying to stuff cashmere suits and fake gems down your throat. Every sale gets the tuktuk driver a bit of commission. Bastards! To be honest it was interesting the first time but you really get sick of the whole process.

The city is one incredibly seedy place too - you can see live sex & ping-pong shows (women playing ping pong with their privates - nothing really left to imagination...) - had to go see one since it's part of the whole culture there. Fucking hell - it might seem like every man's dream, but was a bit too much for me. Didn't last beyond an hour I don't think.  If you like partying and pervert shows you'll love the place..

Singapore was really nice too - very clean & efficient but a bit uninteresting & more expensive than Bangkok. Most intriguing thing I did was go on a night time safari involving tonnes of animals in natural enclosures - you get to see them up close.