It seemed a shame not to have a photo of sheep at least once in New Zealand. It really is true that there are more sheep than people.

Another long drive got us to Christchurch, with a lunch stop at the Best View of Mount Cook TM - a turquoise-blue lake (almost like a filled chalk-quarry lake) with the snowy, craggy peak of Mount Cook reflected in it and towering above it - even with the hyperactive children yabbering behind us, it was pretty profound!

Christchurch is a sweet place with lovely botanical gardens, punting on the river (even if they do it from the wrong end - which should make them ashamed, affliated as they are with Christchurch Oxford - and you don't do it yourself, which is frankly cheating), a huge cathedral and buzzing cathedral square centrepiece, and lively restaurant culture. I'm still feeling a little dazed from Queenstown but am just about receptive enough to decide that Christchurch is a good little place, somewhere it would be easy to live.

After a night and a morning here we drove down to the coastal town of Akaroa. Another gorgeous drive - another gorgeous coastline. Akaroa is lovely, nestled on the edge of an inlet (once you get out to the sea from here, there's nothing between you and Chile, quite an exciting thought!), and full of interesting little shops, great little cafes, little vineyards - yes, the operative word here is "little".

Except for - again - the views. Dad found Onuku Heights for our stay in Akaroa, which is a drive out of town, along the coast, and up into the hills, where the farmhouse is perched in the middle of its extensive land and has uninterrupted views out to the inlet and the hills beyond, and...it's just phenomenal. On our 2nd morning we woke up (both our rooms look straight out over this view!) to dense fog in the valley, obscuring the water, but clear as anything up where we were - it was as though we were staying in some mythical place up above the clouds (a bite like the Care Bears)! Hosted by Eckhardt (or Eggplant as Mum and I took to calling him), it's a quite incredible place. We were all fans from the minute we arrived - which probably had quite a lot to do with Eggplant offering us a glass of wine the minute we got our bags from the car!

We took a boat trip from Akaroa (with a number of older people who were on a cruise, and provided us with people-watching entertainment when we weren't looking out for marine life), which took us out of the harbour and into the sea, captained by a very knowledgeable and witty skipper. It was a successful trip too - we saw a little blue penguin, resting with one wing in the air (tiny and SO sweet!); lots of Hector's dolphins, the smallest dolphins in the world with characteristic black and white markings, we were lucky enough to see them jumping and playing in the water, which is quite rare (also adorable); lots of seals basking on the rocks; cormorants nesting in the cliff faces; a huge sea cave (I took one look and thought "good bungee spot..." - something's happened to my brain) and amazing rock formations - because New Zealand is quite volcanic, there's no shortage of these, but they never fail to impress!

Sad to leave Akaroa, we sped back to Christchurch for our last night and a leisurely morning before heading out to the airport. I can't believe how much we've packed into so short a time - we've seen SO much of this amazing, stunning, constantly impressing country but it doesn't feel at all like we've been rushed. And, as you might have noticed, I'm intending on returning sometime! For now, thought, it's back to Melbourne - and that's a pretty exciting prospect too.