14 January:
Today we started to pack everything ready to leave for Christchurch in the morning. We had a few things to sort in town as well, but nothing much exciting.
Ed & I just sat in the flat on the evening, while Carly & Sara went to Speight's Brewery to do the guided tour. They were given a sample tray each with the 6 beers that they produce, their favourite being an Apricot wheat beeer. They came home quite late after a sneaky half in the pub, then we called it a night.
Carly discovered that her camera was b*****ed, so that's another unexpected expense to take into account when we get to Christchurch.

15 January:
After a huge clear up of the flat & loading all our crap into the car, we set out towards Christchurch in fairly good spirit. It didn't last too long. After 2 hours in the car we had only managed to drive 20 km out of Dunedin after a monstrous wrong turn taking along the Peninsula to an eventual dead end. 100km's driven, only 20 in the right direction!!
6.5 hours after leaving Dunedin we arrived in Christchurch, all feeling miserable & tired. We checked into a motel called 'City Oasis'& were given a 4 bed private dorm. The girls went out for a Thai meal in a nearby restaurant but Ed & I were too moody to leave the room. We ordered a Pizza Hut delivery & it was awesome! We also played some poker online with some free money & banked $180. It was a nice lift after the day we had!

16 January:
This morning we woke up nice & early to get ready to collect our 'Wicked' campervan. We stopped at a coffee shop on the way to discuss finances & world politics before picking up the van. It's called 'Farmer Sutra' & it has some images of beastiality on both sides. A treat for the local children on their summer holidays!
We drove back to the Motel & booked in for one more night, then Ed & Sara took us into town to check out the sights. Basically that involved looking at a Cathedral. The girls took the opportunity to check out the shopping facilities though. As always!
In the evening we all drove up to the Gondolas at the foot of the mountain range overlooking the Peninsula. I can only describe the gondolas as a constant stream of slow cookers designed to accommodate humans. It was the worst heat I have ever felt.
When we got to the top after plenty of stopping & starting, we did some fancy dress with the clothing that they had on sale. I tried on a lovely fur hat, retailing at $165. God knows who would buy it. Then we endured a painfully slow & boring talk/ride thing that apparently explained the formation of the mountain range & peninsula. I didn't take a word of it in.
We stepped out onto what we thought was the observation deck, naively questioning why everyone so smartly dressed. Turns out we crashed a wedding, sporting completely unaccpetable attire for the occasion! Thhe views from the actual observation deck were pretty cool though.