I couldn't be bothered to get up too early this morning as I knew it was going to rain. I had to check out by 10 so was up, showered and packed by then. I chucked all my stuff in the car and then walked into town to pick up a few bits and collect my hoody. Yay for me. It was ready early luckily and I was well chuffed with it! I posted some photos to Jade that I'd had developed and then went back to the hostel. Shane and Krish were still in bed when I left but were awake by the time I came back. Which was lucky as I didn't have a key to get back into the room! I showed them my hoody and then we went and had breakfast in the common room, for one last time. Shane was doing his bungy jump today so he left at the same time as me. I said my goodbyes and wished them the best for the rest of their travels (Fiji and LA damn them)! And then I was off again. One last long drive in this awesome country. Essentially, this was the start of my drive to the airport as I wasn't stopping anywhere or doing anything in between. I'd booked into a holiday park in a standard cabin, which was about an hour south of Christchurch airport. I ploughed through my 5 hour journey and did it in about 4.5 which wasn't too bad. It stopped raining about half way through which helped, as some of the bends are a bit scary in the wet. Probably something to do with the speed I was taking them at, but the rain definitely wasn't helping!
So I was about 2 minutes from the holiday park and I'd been looking for a McDonalds the whole way. The pound saver menu out here is amazing! With the exchange rate, a double cheeseburger is 50p! So I was going to have that for lunch to use up my change but I was running out of time. I saw a KFC drive thru and had to make do with that. Ordered, ate, drove off. Just round the corner and what did I see?! A bloody McDonalds! Just goes to show that you shouldn't panic buy your fast food either! Gutted!
I pulled into the holiday park and was greeted at reception by a woman I can only describe as a kiwi version of a redneck. What the hell have I done I thought to myself but I stuck with it. It was only one night after all. She pointed out where my cabin was and sent me on my way. I'll find the toilets and showers myself then shall I?! I drove round and parked outside my little hut that was no more than a glorified shed with sliding patio doors. I walked inside and despite the windows being open, it stank to high heaven, almost as if something had died in there. From the look of the woman on reception, it wouldn't at all surprise me! Still, I had a tv, a fridge and 2 beds, what more could I want?! I unloaded all my crap from the car and anyone who knows what my Peugeot was like inside, will know how much crap that was! I sorted everything out and packed it all ready to fly tomorrow. I have no scales to weigh it though which could cause problems tomorrow but I'll deal with that when it happens! I got into bed after a while to watch tv and shortly after fell asleep for a nana nap as they call them over here! I didn't mean to, it just kinda happened. I woke and ate and then just laid in my bed chilling for the rest of the evening. Jade sent me a couple of goodbye/safe trip messages that almost made me cry! Bloody hell I'm gonna miss her! I think she deserves the title of International Best Friend for sure. Can't wait for her to come over to England, whenever that may be. Definitely a friend for life though, as will a lot of others be. It feels strange to be going home and I'm a big bag of mixed emotions at the moment. Being locked in a garden shed directly under the flight path isn't helping with that either! But all good things must come to an end. It's just a case of finding the next one, wherever or whatever that may be.....