Hello everyone!

Time to update the blog. So I`ve just celebrated my 24th birthday. I was actually working at my new job on the big day at a self defence training course at the youth correctional facility, I`ve been offered a casual working contract with them as a residential youth worker. Comcare, my current employers are ok with that so all is fantastic. Mark was very romantic and cooked a meal for us to share on the night on my birthday and I recieved some flowers and chocolates all the way from England from mum and dad and lots of birthday cards, aside from that it was a quiet birthday...until the weekend that is. Mark suprised me with a spa day on Saturday so I spent a good few hours being pampered. It was just what the Dr ordered after being thrown around a self defence course!! Then he took me out for a slap up birthday meal at a restaurant in Christchurch called Rotherhams of Riccarton. It was stunning. One of the best meals we`ve had in a long time (apart from the fine cuisine dad splashe dout on in Thailand of course!!) We indulged in fresh breads with pseto dipping suace, then tried the restaurant speciality - oysters! They were cooked in herb crusts and were perfect. Mark even tried one and then another! Although I think two was enough for him! I had NZ lamb which is by far my current favourite and Mark had steak served with cous cous and green beans which he also gobbled up! Gone are the days of sausages and chips!! We were far too full for desert but the waitress brought out a mini birthday pudding for me which was a wondeful touch. The service was excellent with the chef coming out as we were leaving to ask if we enjoyed our meal!

The next morning we were up early to make the most of the NZ long weekend and headed north to a place called Kaikoura. Kaikoura is a fishing township in the base of the mountain ranges the scenery is stunning as you can see from the pictures. We arrived after a very scenic drive at our accommadation for the evening. We splashed out a little bit as we were also celebrating our 2 year anniversary!! Ahhh...

The staff there also made us feel like royalty - we are really warming to the friendliness of the kiwis. Our room was to die for it was just perfect for us to get out of Christchurch and the earthquakes and indulge. We headed into the town to browes the shops and try the famous fish and chips we had blue cod and it was as good as they say it is. We then headed to the seal colony but not before stopping off to take a stunning photo of the scenery. We were busy posing before we noticed we had company...an adult seal had decided to introduce itself just 5 metres away from us. It was amazing because it was just me, Mark and the seal no other tourists were around so we could take plenty of photos. The seal even seemed to be posing for us! It was lucky we noticed because once were reached the actual colony we couldnt get close enough to the seals. Apparently the seals are all over the beach and coastline but you have to catch them at the right time of year usually around March / April they also have seal pups playing around so we will be heading back to witness that. We were told thats the best time of year to go whale watching which is what Kaikoura is famous for so we`ll be doing that too. We did originally plan to go whale watching this time but the sightings havent been great in the last month so decided to hold off for a few months, plenty of time were not going anywhere!!

Sunday night was spent at a restaurant recommended by our hotel manager. We were lucky enough to be able to splash out thanks to Marks Mum and Dad and Grandma who sent some british pounds our way for my birthday - so thank you very much! So our hotel manager even booked the table and arranged the best table in the house for us and it really was! We had amazing views and amazing food - the diet certainly went out of the window this week! I enjoyed Monkfish while Mark tooked into Venison. We had a great night sleep - earthquake free and woke up bright and early to breakfast being delivered to our door!! Mmmmm!! A perfect way to celebrate the last 2 years and our first trip away since setting up in New Zealand.

Everything is going amazingly we have been very lucky. Marks job is great and both mine are perfect. Our flat is coming on now we`ve just had a new bed delivered so we are getting there - preparing for any visitors that may happen to land on our doorstep......