Christchurch and the End of New Zealand

Thursday morning and we woke up to, you guessed it... more heavy rain! After our usual breakfast of porridge we packed up our things ready to leave. Today is our last full day in New Zealand so we said goodbye to our beloved cool box and donated it to some travellers before leaving our pretty little hostel in Akaroa. With all the rain over the past few days the drive to Christchurch was quite treacherous. Along the windy Banks Peninsula road there were many slips and landslides that we had to drive around and in some places there were streams of flood water running across the road. This was something we had come to expect throughout South America, not New Zealand! Despite the warnings of flooding and road closures we made the 1.5 hour drive into Christchurch without problem. En route into the city centre we made an emergency stop after seeing a sign advertising $10 haircuts. 15 minutes later we were back on the road and heading into the small city centre where we found a rather nice hostel with parking . The fact that it had a Robert Harris Coffee shop next door really sealed the deal for us. We were getting low on cash and still had about 50 'buy one get one free' coffee vouchers left to use.

In the afternoon (and buzzing from all the caffeine!) we wandered the Christchurch Arts Centre which is a converted 18th Century college and now a hub for arts, crafts and boutique shops in Christchurch. We then headed into the centre crossing over the River Avon which was lined with weeping willow trees and had a distinctly English feel. We could have even taken a punt down the river, but having done this fairly recently in Cambridge (and not forgetting it was cold and still raining!) we decided to give it a miss. Christchurch city centre is really one main square called Cathedral Square where.. you guessed it....Christchurch cathedral sits. Although it is pleasant, Christchurch is not a particularly exciting city and half a day was plenty of time to wander around. The most exciting thing we did was walk aroud the cathedral and climb to the top of the main bell tower for views over the city. That evening we celebrated our last night with a meal of fresh pasta and a bottle of wine.

On Friday morning (after another free coffee!) we headed to the aiport, dropping off our car en route. Over the past 5 weeks we have driven over 5,500km (3,500 miles) and covered almost all the major sights in New Zealand. Despite some challenging weather conditions we have really enjoyed our time here, moreso on the South Island where the scenery and feeling of isolation is wonderful.

Where we have visited (chronological):

NORTH ISLAND

Auckland

Bay of Islands

Kauri Coast

Rotorua

Taupo

Waitomo

Wellington

SOUTH ISLAND

Abel Tasman National Park

Marlborough Wine Region

Kaikoura

Arthur's Pass

Franz Josef & Fox Glacier

Wanaka

Queenstown

Milford Sound

Doubtful Sound

Catlins Coast

Dunedin & the Otago Peninsula

Mount Cook National Park

Rangitata Valley

Akaroa & the Banks Peninsula

Christchurch