Christchurch

Hey again. I am now in Christchurch. today julie and i got on the intercity bus and rode to christchurch. it took most of the day. actually, the bus got delayed b/c of a huge 18 wheeler accident and one of our roads was closed. i didn't mind b/c we stopped in cute towns along the way and got to hang out at cafes and shops. at one point the funniest thing happened. we were sitting at the front of the bus making friends with the busdrivers. all of the sudden i looked up and thousands of sheep were all on the road heading towards us! yes, they just parted as we inched forward as if nothing was wrong or unusual about being on a highway. i think they purposely let them out every now and then to "mow" the grass along the roads. then at another stop while we were waiting for the road to open, there was an apple tree by the road. julie asked the bus driver if we could pick them. i confirmed with him that it wasn't illegal. he said of course we could pick them. so we proceeded to head over to the apple tree and julie climbed up in it to pick them. well, the trend caught on. there were then some women from china trying to climb up in the tree as well to get a free snack. they were gala apples! they came in handy on the long trip. our first bus driver was fun. we mentioned to him that just looking out of the window was like watching a movie, so it was entertaining. i told him that it's like i'm watching Lord of the Rings. he laughed and then proceeded to tell me every place we drove by that was the site of filming the movie! i loved it. for some real Lord of the Ring fans, or maybe obsessed fans, they have travel diaries in the stores here that have all of the places that they filmed it and then spaces next to it so you can journal your thoughts at each sight. no, i am not buying that!
i'm so excited, i finally found the perfect NZ t-shirt today! actually, i found two! i got them in christchurch tonight.
our second busdriver was hilarious. he was an older man and we spent the whole ride talking and telling jokes. we laughed a lot. i could only tell my one joke i remember from kindergarden. suprisingly he laughed really hard. :) julie told an aggie joke. i was like which one, there's 101 of them!
okay, well i'm glad i got to talk to momma today and wish her happy momma's day. happy mother's day to anyone else out there too!
we start our journey with kiwi experience tomorrow at 6:55 am.