Postman Pat, Postman Pat...

I don't know if I've told you... I'm in New Zealand, land of "Xena, Warrior Princess", "Hercules", "King Kong" and, of course, "Lord of the Rings". I flew into Christchurch in the district of Canterbury (sound familiar?) on Wednesday evening and haven't really stopped since. A day of organising stuff then off again. On Friday I went to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula. I had hoped to swim with dolphins, walk amongst trees and chill out. I started the walking then it started hailing, big time. Didn't bother with the dolphins as nothing was going out on the sea. It rained practically non-stop through to Saturday afternoon but I didn't let this stop me. You see, I'd booked to go out with the Mail run on Saturday morning - rain or no rain. So I turned up, was given the option of going (as the weather was so bad we might not be able to see much from the summits), decided to go anyway and off we went. The postie did her stuff (they also deliver newspapers), we stopped at a cheese factory (yes, of course I bought some cheese - this is me we're talking about), then later we stopped for morning tea in a church (home made muffins, I think - very welcome). We went to the top of the 'mountains' and down to the beach, I got to see most of the bays and some stunning scenery. I almost got blown over by the wind, the rain and hail semi-soaked me and a good time was had.

When I got back to the hostel, I realised I'd left my cheese in the postie's van (actually a 4WD because of the threat of snow on the summits) so went charging up to the post office. She hadn't returned there yet but another postie (Paul) took me up to where she was, I picked up my cheese and then Paul drove me back to the hostel - incredible and unexpected kindness! Lunch was cheese and crackers, sitting listening to the rain but by mid afternoon it had cleared slightly, so I walked to the other end of the village and went to the cinema.

Now, the cinema... From the outside it looks like a village hall. Inside there is a cafe (serving good food and drinks) and two, yes two, screens. I saw "Death at a Funeral" a good British film in Cinema 2. Now I've been in some odd cinemas in my life. The arthouse cinema in Plymouth where we sat on plastic chairs trying to peer around each other, the massive single screen cinema in Cairo where there were eight foreigners, six drinks salesmen (who kept standing between us and the screen) and three armed police officers (still not sure if they were there to protect us or prevent us rioting after watching a foreign film), the huge multiplex in Poland with more screens than good films to fill them, but this cinema, this one in Akaroa, is by far the best I've ever been to.

The seats are wide and comfortable. You can take your drink (hot or cold, alcoholic or not) in with you, there are armrests for your drinking vessel (I took in a pot of tea). The place wasn't in total blackout (one of my pet hates - why do people want to sit in the dark and watch films?) but, best of all, there were only SEVENTEEN seats. In fact my being there almost caused a problem when a couple turned up and there was only one seat left (nobody had counted on a tourist wanting to go to the cinema) but they squeezed in. A wonderfully civillised way to pass a rainy Saturday afternoon and the sun was setting as we left.

Up early again on Sunday to catch the bus back to Christchurch and then the coach onto Kaikora on the eastern coast of the southern island. I had booked dolphin swimming and whale watching here but it's done nothing but rain again and the dolphin swimming was cancelled. Hopefully the whale watching will go ahead, otherwise it's going to be a long day in the hostel watching tv and reading badly written books.

Tomorrow I move onto Wellington on the north island (bus then ferry). I'm hoping to go swimming with dolphins up off the north island so keep your fingers crossed for me.