Our final stop on our New Zealand adventure was Christchurch. En route from Queenstown we stopped off for a night at Lake Tekapo where it was said you could enjoy spectacular views of Mt Cook. Unfortunately the 24 hours we were there the mountain ranges were bathed in thick cloud which was very impassive to see, however did manage to hide the largest mountain in New Zealand from us. Nevertheless we still spent a pleasant afternoon strolling and segwaying around town.

In Christchurch our friends Oli and Eva had very kindly agreed to put us up in their flat in the centre of town while they stayed at a friends. Sadly we had some serious and upsetting business to attend to in Christchurch - it was time to bid farewell to and sell the Grape. We spent two days at the backpackers car market after having no interest from our add on the website TradeMe we posted a week before. The backpackers car market works by allowing people to park their cars there (for a fee) and try and sell to fellow travellers, the idea being that everyone knows to go there for a cheap travelling car so it should be simple. Unfortunately we were trying to sell at the end of summer and there were nearly exclusively 'sellers' there and no 'buyers'. Nevertheless we gave it our best shot and became enthusiastic car salespeople for two days, pestering anyone unfortunate enough to cross our paths (which was few). If we described our success in fishing terms (which we are far better at) it would be a couple of nibbles but no bites. Sadly after two days we had not sold our beloved Grape and so we had to pay a little more to leave the Grape there long term in the hope that someone will eventually see the beauty in the beast and make the best decision of their life and buy the Grape of Wrath.

In our free time we wondered around the town, which is still a giant building site after the earthquake. The cathedral was the only recognisable landmark from Claire's visit seven years ago, and even that was cordoned off as it had suffered serious damage. Claire couldn't even orientate herself around the town, despite the cathedral. The hostel she stayed in last time was just an empty plot of land. After the quake a few shops had reopened in shipping containers in one area of town and this has slowly become the 'restart mall', a very trendy shopping area where all the shops are run out of shipping containers in various funky colours.

We celebrated the ancient kiwi festival of St Patrick's Day with Oli, Eva and their workmates (one of whom is starting surgical training in Torbay in August - the medical world is very small). Controversially we spent the most Irish of holidays in a Mexican tapas/tequila bar enjoying some upmarket tequila shots which, according to Claire, tasted just as terrible as the cheap stuff. Oli, who did the Ironman with Greg, spent the evening trying to recruit him to his next project - either another Ironman or the Marathon des Sables. Fortunately Greg had the wits to decline these tempting proposals. The following night we were joined for dinner by another of their workmates who is vegan and so Oli and Eva prepared a vegan meal for everyone to enjoy which was delicious...could've done with some bacon though.

Very early the next morning Oli drove us to the airport and we enjoyed our last few hours in New Zealand. As we watched the planes come and go we reflected on the last seven months. If you've been reading this blog you'll understand when we say it was an incredible journey. We squeezed every last drop of excitement and adventure from our time here and feasted on stunning scenery and unforgettable experiences with a healthy side order of Hobbits to go with it. It was everything we'd hoped for and more but our feet were now itchy and ready to experience something completely different. On to the next adventure...