Tuesday 19th February 2019 - to Christchurch

Our final day started grey, overcast and wet! In some ways that was good as we didn’t mind leaving bad weather. In other ways we would have preferred to have seen the mountains in all their glory just one more time. But there were things to be done. The packing up to finish, kit to hand back to Adrienne, breakfast, clearing up the kitchen and then tidying up the rest of the bunkhouse. The van and trailer were loaded, and by this time the rain was easing up. Time for one more quick and short walk!

A short drive took us to the Tasman lake and glacier and only a 10 minute walk to the viewpoint. This glacier is receding very quickly and calving icebergs which are floating in the lake. Unlike the icebergs you often see on TV, maybe in the southern Atlantic, that are white or translucent, this glacier and the bergs were dirty looking. My assumption is that it was from the scree and dust, but I don’t know. As we walked back we spotted some different looking birds. They were silver eye with a very pronounced white ring around their eye which made them easy to identify!

Green lakes at Tasman glacier.

Then it was the long drive to Christchurch, alongside Lake Pukaki again, then east to Lake Tekapo, Fairfield and Geraldine where we stopped for lunch at the famous Fairlie pie shop. They were good pies! By this time we had left the mountains behind and were driving over the Canterbury Plains, a large area of flat, almost fen-like arable land, but with many more trees breaking up the landscape.

It was quiet in the van today. Like me I imagine many of them were reflecting on all that we had done in the last 2 weeks, the places we had been, our favourite activity, the challenges, all that we had learnt. And for some it was onto a flight home, for others the continuation of the holiday, if only for a few days, and for Adrienne moving onto a new job and change of home.

This really has been a full on 2 weeks but it has enabled us to see a huge amount of the South Island, to do some amazing walks, to get rid of some of the constraints of normal daily life, if only for a short time and to have time to really appreciate the awesomeness of the world that we live in. I know I bang on about recycling and the environment, but if we want future generations to enjoy all that we take for granted we have to do what we can to protect and enhance the planet, and everyone can do something, however small.

We dropped Orhan at the airport, then Linda and Kyle at a hotel nearby, followed by Lawrence at a hotel outside the city centre. Frank was next, just a 5 minute walk from where we were dropped off, which was only a couple of minutes from Bill & Shabeena’s hotel. I had forgotten that when we were arranging this trip we had talked to the travel agent about having accommodation where we could not only have some space to sort our stuff out, but also somewhere where we could get washing done easily etc. and just relax. So it was really exciting to find that we had a lounge and kitchen area, plus an upstairs bedroom and bathroom complete with washing machine and dryer! And a bath to soak in too. Bliss!!

I have to say it felt strange to be in Christchurch. Our hotel is in Cathedral square and of course the Cathedral was severely damaged in the earthquake almost exactly 8years ago - 22nd February 2011. It is all fenced off and in places boarded up, and the city centre had an odd feel, like a building site that isnt all a building site. But more of that when I write up tomorrow’s blog! It is enough to tell you that we found a good local restaurant where we sat for a lovely meal and had to start getting used to our own company again!