The last few days in New Zealand have been filled with more activities and sight seeing as we have been exploring Christchurch and trying to maximize what little Kiwi time we have left. The journey from Queenstown took just under eight hours but we stopped at some amazing little pit stops en route and the scenery was breathtaking as all around us were snow capped mountains and crystal clear lakes. When we arrived we managed to find a great little hostel just a ten minute walk from the centre of town (we even have double doors that lead to a small wooden deck) and once we had woken up the next day we headed out to see what was on offer.

We began with the now obligatory gondola ride as we headed up one of the hills on the outskirts of the town and we even had our first taste of public transport in almost four months as we took the bus out to the base of the gondola. The ride to the top was fairly standard for us now that we are seasoned gondola professionals and when we got to the lookout we could see just how far out of Christchurch we had come as the view before us spread out across the hillside and down to the valley below with the town seeming to nestle in a bay. In the distance we could even make out the same mountains that we had been so close to only four weeks ago on the edge of Kaikoura.

After we had taken in the panorama and enjoyed a warming beverage in the little café at the top, we headed back down and into the town for a look around. Christchurch has the largest population on the South Island and the thirds largest in the country, but really it is little more than a large town with a laid back atmosphere and some great little shops, restaurants and bars and the odd moment of architectural surprise. We spent some time pottering around the streets in the town centre until it got dark and we headed back to the hostel for some food and a relaxing evening ahead of more adventures in the morning.

Yesterday we put on our 'tourist' hats once more and decided to add a bit of history to our knowledge of the town and got on board one of the trams that tour along a loop of the town. We were soon trundling along with our guide pointing out various points of interest and giving us some background to the area and decided to get off at the arts centre for a look around. However, we soon discovered that it was not an arts centre in the traditional use of the term and instead was like a huge market place with various stalls selling everything from paintings to kites to things that you would normally find down at the W.I. markets back in the UK.

From here we headed to the botanical gardens just around the corner and spent a couple of hours walking around in the sun exploring the different exhibits before we got back on the tram to continue the loop. Once again we were treated to a commentary on the local attractions as we slowly made our way around the tracks until we were almost back to the start again. As we were coming into the tram station we passed through New Regent street, an art deco strip of buildings that were built in Spanish mission style, every one painted a different colour with bright yellows and blues and reds.

Once we were back in the town centre we headed out to one of the Indian restaurants that we had seen from the tram, for a slap up meal before traipsing back to the hostel.

Today has been less action packed as we have spent most of the day sorting through our belongings and trying to decide what we can post home - we have both agreed it's pretty unlikely we'll need our snowboarding clothes during the Aussie summer! We also realized that we have misplaced two of our most prized possessions: a beer mat that we brought at the Speights brewery barely a week ago and a Lions Tour '05 pint glass that we smuggled out of a pub in Auckland and had managed to carry around for two months without breaking!!

After a trip to the post office to get our excess clothes and souvenirs sent back to the UK we went for one last wonder into town and spent the last of the sunshine hours sitting in one of the parks by the river while people on punts passed us by. We are now back in the hostel to get some sleep before we leave for the airport at 5:00am tomorrow morning to head to the tropical heat of northern Queensland in Australia.