[Christchurch, New Zealand] It was the last day of our New Zealand road trip today 🙁 We left Nelson around noon and made a beeline for Christchurch. Tomorrow we have to return the van. The trip is only around 400km but the windy roads and New Zealand’s 100km/h speed limit meant it took more than 6 hours. We breezed past a lot of cool looking spots without stopping. Blenheim and Kaikoura especially look interesting. There are lot of good beaches dotted in between rocky patches on this part of the coast. We also spotted the odd seal lounging around but other than that we spent the afternoon concentrating on the road ahead in the iffy and wet weather. Once again we passed a lot of cyclists. Road touring is very popular in New Zealand and they do it even in the wind and rain – these guys are hard core.

We eventually got back to Christchurch (as civilized as it gets on the South Island). The only stretch of what we would call ‘highway’ so far, 2 lanes and even a centre barrier, it lasted less than 20km. Passing on the inside here does not seem to be an issue. We guess that is because there aren’t many roads with more than one lane! Christchurch was cold compared to Nelson and had us reaching for our fleeces and zipping our longs back on before we got out the van at a KFC. We have been testing KFC’s since Asia. These seem good but expensive with a small (thankfully) portion size. About double the price of the cheapest ones in China.

It was a long drive (for us) and we were relieved to be back at Eweg Haven. This time the tea on tap tastes great! – helps not to be sick. We could have used at least another two weeks to do a proper job of the South Island. We’ll have to save the north eastern corner and coastline for next time and there are a number of places we need to go back to. Mt Cook, Queenstown and the Glaciers for sure. North Island we’ll treat as another country to add to the list of ‘Places to visit’.

[Pictures: None today but not to worry – we will be uploading tonnes next week]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi