DAY 16 - LAKE OHAU TO CHRISTCHURCH its the last day of the tour, :-( while alot of people have great views from thier room overlooking the lake, we have the view of the coach, just beyond that we can see the camp gas station. which is nice. breakfast is nice. today we make tracks towards christchurch we follow the southern lakes to a hydroelectricity scheme around impressive blue water lakes and the ever present southern alps as the backdrop. we stop for a while and nick explains how it all works. a man with impeccable fashion sense(ahem) cycles by with his rear view mirror stuck to his helmet. and were off again,following the canal system until we reach mt john. a few of us decide to take a stroll up it while the others take the coach to town, as the coach leaves i whack the wing mirror of the coach in an attempt to make it look like it had hit me in the head. not a sign of concern was shown. the walk was a stroll my arse, this is a bloody steep trek for 45 minutes. im knackered. mandy and i take a short cut up a steeper bit to make sure steve with his broken foot doesnt beat us and wait for everyone else who had stormed off and gone the wrong direction. its all about who got to the top first not how you got there. great views from the top, was it worth it, nah probably not. going down was much easier though. mandy litters the hillside by dropping a filthy water bottle over the edge, accident yeah right, pollute the world why dont you. ;-) at the bottom i discover that after i hit the wing mirror a few more yards down the road and the casing had fallen off the coach. i broke the bloody coach. sorry nick but he didnt seem to mind too much. we stop for lunch at a chinese restaurant, neil buys himself 2 meals? it takes a little longer to eat as i was determined to stick to the chopsticks. off we go again with another stop at the church of the good shepard, we take some silly photos before seeing a statue of a dog, supposedlly its good luck to touch it, hopefully its loads of luck for climbing up and posing with it in an uncompromising position. we reach christchurch and most of us are staying here for at least 1 night, we say goodbye to those that arent. we decide to meet up for dinner around 8. just time for a couple of beers at the pub next door to the base hostel. we go for a all you can eat chinese buffet where you can cook your own food at the table, i opt for the precooked food, why should i cook it myself at a restaurant? chopsticks again and its quite a feast, more baby octopus. 2 chinese meals in a day can be a little too much but hey hoo. the chocolate moose has been noted by grant as to its remarkable resemblance to poo, even more so when i add a couple of sweetcorn to the bowl. conversation rapidly goes down hill now. infact you could say the conversation was sh**, quite literally. we leave the chinese and head back to warners bar to meet some others and say goodbye to nick again and not for the last time either. there is a pair of female singers at the bar, i feel sorry for them as no one claps them, i start forcing people to clap, which they appreciate and thank me by inviting me on stage, i decline. we head into the town for more drinks but it is very quiet, we head to the mad cow. most colourful posters in the toilets here. windslow gets served, he is only 17 see and has struggled getting into most bars, in fact i have even been asked id a few times. which is nice. there is only me, neil, steve, windslow, jenna, megan and jan left at this point and most of us are transfixed on the premiership football on tv. we leave the crazy place that is the mad cow and head to some more trendy bars, catch up with some others before long its just me and neil left, a couple more drinks for the sake of it before returning to the base backpackers. we have a 6 share room with ensuite, wow. tonight im sharing with steve, sabine, anne-michelle, philip and a random who snores alot and doesnt like us. tomorrow is new years eve. wahoo.