Friday the 13th, marked our return to Christchurch via the Spy Valley Winery which was on Nick's must visit list as he visited Spy Valley with the boys in 2005 and obviously a Chocolate Factory.

On the long drive back to Christchurch we stopped by at the Ohau Waterfall where we saw lots of seal pups frolicking in the water. The seal pups visit the waterfall for some social time with other like minded seal pups (a bit like a youth club for seals) and only return to the sea when they need their mums milk. It was adorable, although there was too many people overstepping their boundaries... (some people just don't know how to respect wildlife...).

On a final note re. the North Island, prior to coming to New Zealand a lot of people (even Kiwi's themselves - obviously Southerners) told Helen not to bother with the North Island. There are some hidden gems in the North Island and you do have to search for them, such as Cathedral Cove, Piha, Doubtless Bay, Bay of Islands and finally the Coromandel Peninsula. The North Island certainly exceeded our expectations.

Once back in Christchurch, the first evening was spent helping Sam build his Lego City Police Helicopter that we got him for his 8th Birthday. The following morning we went to watch Sam's rugby game, and attended his Clip and Climb party. Basically there are about 20 climbing walls, the kids attach themselves to a rope and climb up. It was amazing and Nick was itching to get involved. We had some down time at Lee and Helen's before heading out to watch the Crusaders Vs Force. Crusaders were whipping Force in the first half but of course when they took off a few key players ie. Daniel Carter the second half was more interesting. The final score was 38-24.

On the Sunday, all of us minus Sam headed out to Lyttleton, an historic port town which was devastated in the last major earthquake Christchurch had. It still had some of its beauty and we went for a walk ending with Oliver throwing stones in the sea. The evening was spent chilling out with fish n chips.

The car was put in for repair first thing Monday morning and once completed we made our way to Lake Tekapo.

One strange reason why Nick wants to move to New Zealand:
Believe it or not, New Zealand does not have any snakes - not even in the zoo.