Following the drive up the coast from Lake Takapo on Friday we arrived in Christchurch and scouted out our Juicy depot where we would later need to return the trusty van. We then scooted into town for some brief email checking and last minute supermarket supply shopping and ventured (in a round about way) back out into the countryside to find a place to camp for what would be our final night. Having decided the previous day that we were in fact ahead of schedule, we called the UK flight centre and rearranged our flights out of New Zealand for the previous day (Sunday rather than Monday). On the Saturday morning, we explored town a little more, and went to the botanic gardens. An hour or so in the gardens car park was sufficient for us to clear out the van and pack all our belongings away in our bags for our departure. Fully aware of what we were about to embark upon, we returned the van to the depot at 4oclock on Saturday (at Christchurch Airport) and began our 12 hour overnight wait to check in to our flight leaving Christchurch at 7am Sunday morning. Needless to say, despite the faults of the van, and the cold, sleeping on the floor in the airport was a little less comfortable than what we were used to, and neither of us got much sleep. I did manage to get my hair cut in the airport though, which was a result and took up at least 20 mins of the 12 hours!!!

When we finally woke only 15 minutes after the check in opened, there was already a huge queue, and we felt a bit miffed having waited all night for these chumps to rock up and get to the front of the line. We still managed to get good seats on the plane however, so all was not lost. Our time in NZ was over, and a new, Aboriginal adventure was beginning.