Our tent was soaked, as it had been raining again, and we were both pretty cold, so we got up quite early. It cleared up beautifully though as we were driving.

We drove north with snow capped mountains to our right nearly the whole time. Keiron has become quite a Barenaked Ladies fan (contrary to what you may think, four fully clothed Canadian males) and we sang along loudly to their songs.

In Christchurch, I showed off my navigational skills by getting us to the top 10 without detours, though Keiron was still singing and nearly missed the street we needed to turn into!

The campsite is pretty big and busy, but we found a nice spot to spend our three last tent nights on. We did some food shopping and had lunch. We saw Hitch in the afternoon at the cinema, for want of anything better. It's a romantic comedy with Will Smith and some cringeworthy dialogue, though in parts it was quite amusing.

Afterwards we had a great blueberry muffin and sat in the TV room, Keiron watching War of the Roses and I read my book (though I looked up when Kathleen Turner punched Michael Douglas - funniest scene in the film!)

We had a late dinner, sitting in peace and quiet in the dining room, a great change after Mt Cook, and I called mum and dad to have a chat. They told me the pope had died, but then, he's been dying for years...