So, last stop, all aboard... well for New Zealand at any rate. We got to Christchurch early enough, the drive from Oamaru not being even close to as long as we had anticipated. The hostel was at the edge of town and a 15 min walk directly into the city. On the way to the hostel, and walking back into town we could see plenty of semi and fully collapsed buildings. There are lots of streets closed off and barriers put around buildings with loose bits hanging off them. Mostly however its fine and there were only a few buildings out of what is quite a large city that were damaged

In the city centre there is lots of lovely old english style buildings, catherdrals and houses and musuems. It is like walking around a proper old english city. We followed the route the tram takes which loops around the city centre, and saw most of the sites. We didnt really bother going in anywhere though as it was a cracking day so we just went to the park and chilled out for a bit. It was a whole country ago, so the details of what else we did are sketchy enough, but we both liked it there all the same. It was a bit empty of people, and that is one of their big complaints. Since the earthquake nobody really wants to go there, its definately worth a look though and is by far a nicer city than Auckland

Anyway, that about wraps it up for New Zealand. Thoroughly enjoyed by both of us. We saw some amazing pieces of geography and met lots of really nice people. If anyone is interested in going then it gets our seal of approval. I wont give out about any of the things we didnt like, because now that we have left they dont seem worth it. The country is fantastic, and I would imagine we will go back some day to see the things we missed. Bring on Australia then.......