Final Days in NZ

It's the end!!! While we sit and wonder how this happened, we'll tell you what we've been up to.

On our way back from Akaroa via the Summit Road- which proved to be longer, much steeper, and much, much rainier than the road we took going in- we realized we wouldn't be spending any more nights near the ocean for a long, long time. Before we headed home to landlocked, hilly Indiana, we planned one last fling: a farewell to the mountains.

Arthur's Pass is notorious amongst cyclists as a killer climb, but, feeling a little sick of cycling, we chose to get there by bus. We hiked up a mountain whose name we never found out, headed for a spectacular view from Carroll Hut. Unfortunately, we didn't get much of a view, due to very misty (and cold!) conditions. Surprise! It's not summer in New Zealand anymore. It's definitely autumn. We had planned to stay in the hut on top, but after 20 minutes of our teeth chattering (luckily we were eating lunch so this actually came in handy) we decided no way, it's too cold. So we walked back down the mountain and found a nice bunkhouse to stay in for the night. We built ourselves a fire (with a little help from the owner, Bill, who also gave Torrey a firewood-chopping lesson: "Pretend the wood is someone you hate!" "Let the axe guide you.") and slept peacefully on the kitchen floor, as close to the flames as we could get. Upon awakening, Luc played lovely melodies on the guitar and proceeded to pound Torrey at Scrabble.

Then we returned to Christchurch after waiting an extra hour for our bus (nobody told us it was Daylight Savings!) During our wait we got to see some keas wobbling in the wind, and cackling loudly.

We've spent the days since then in Christchurch, embarking on various day trips. First we visited Lyttelton, the original landing place of the Canterbury settlers, and still a functioning harbor. We watched them load crates for awhile from the Timeball Station (a curious artifact from the days of long ago, when Captains set their watches by the fall of a black ball everyday at 1 pm).

The next day we ventured into the Port Hills south of Christchurch. It was a good de-stresser to get out of the city's hustle and bustle and explore the wild ups and downs of the surrounding countryside. With no map, we ended up on a mountain biking trail somehow, slipping and sliding up the hillside. Eventually we found our way back to a real trail. So, after getting wet and muddy and smellin' the sweet perfume of the gum trees one last time, we headed back to Christchurch.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to our beloved NZ, and - after many many hours of zombifying travel - hello to our even more beloved families. Luckily we have good books to read. See you soon everybody!