Last night we stayed at a place called Rangitata which is literally in the middle of nowhere. We arrived early afternoon and so had the whole evening free to do nothing at all. We played board games, made dinner and socialised with our fellow travellers. There was also free chocolate dessert which we both had our fair share of! Yummy.

Early start this morning in order to get to Christchurch airport in time for pickups. We saw the hurricane rugby team, who I've since been told are quite a big deal. Who knew! We had a drive around Christchurch which was actually fascinating. The whole city seems to be a building site and it is still recovering from the earthquakes 2 years ago. Our driver pointed out many parking lots in the centre of town which used to house large buildings that were demolished. Loads of shops have been abandoned and the whole city looks pretty derelict. We then drive through the neighbourhood that was the worst affected and it was pretty much a ghost town. Most of the houses still stand, but have become overgrown by their gardens, or have missing roofs or walls etc. It was really quite creepy. Some buildings had the front section raised up by the movement of the earth so the roof has become bent. The government has deemed the land unfit for building incase the earthquake would hit that area again so the land is just sitting there, waiting to be turned into parkland. Very interesting.

This afternoon we arrived in Kaikoura. Nice little town but weather misty so bit great views! We're staying here 2 nights so hopefully it will have cleared up by tomorrow!