Au revoir ma petit friends...goodbye Queenstown...hello Christchurch..and finally, goodbye New Zealand!

May 15th. Last morning in Queenstown! Have such brilliant memories (well, for as long as my memories last - about 5 minutes these days!) of this place! Stella and I were heading up to Christchurch together on the Intercity bus (no Stray bus let me tell you! - for a start no eating on the bus - WHAT!!!). The rest of the gang were heading down towards Milford Sound which is meant to be absolutely gorgeous - so I'll just have to do that on my next trip to NZ!

Our trip to Christchurch was amazing - the scenery just kept changing so dramatically - as you can see from the pics! We went through Cromwell, over the Lindas Pass (that's the snowy valley), past Mt Cook/Aoraki - gorgeous again! The Mackenzie Basin, Lake Takepo, more snow again..this area is really barren.Burke's Head to Geraldine Pass (beautiful rolling countryside here with blue skies) then through the Canterbury Plains (the wettest part of NZ apparantly but it wasnt raining when we drove through it - yah!)...

Had a great chat with Ms Stella on the bus - very interesting and lovely girl .. so amazing she is traveling alone at 18... phew, couldn't have done it at that age - NO way!!! Good luck with starting your studies in Bristol Stella - you'll make a brilliant doctor!!! Arrived in Christchurch to bucketing rain - yuk! So we decided to treat ourselves to a great Indian meal, then I plugged into the internet cafe, to at least start the ole' blog (yuk.. i am so behind its not true!)

May 16th - official last day in NZ!
Got up early...packed, had breakfast then went off to get some NZ friendly pressies -you know possum socks, kangaroo steaks etc.(hehehee). Took a good walk around the city centre; very pretty, lots of trams, cafes and shops around town - and oh, so different in the sunshine.Yes, lovely blue skies today! Very interesting sculpture found in Cathedral Square, (named after the building that dominates it). The 18m Metal Chalice was designed to acknowledge the new millenium...quite a juxtaposition to the striking, Gothic cathedral built in 1881!!!! I liked both of them... but apparantly lotsa Christchurch locals took a long time to warm to the sculpture - oh well!

Took the shuttle bus to the airport. Flight at 4pm - need to remember there is a 2hr time difference with Australia (OZ is 2 hrs behind NZ)! And so ends a "sweet as..." adventure in New Zealand, and here's to Australia! The next leg of the trip has a lot to live up to.. can it compete? Stay tuned!