With just a couple of days left in New Zealand, we said goodbye to Queenstown and boarded our final bus to take us to Christchurch, the South Islands largest city with 400,000 residents. It was a monster of a drive, 486 kms, our biggest yet, which wasn't made any easier by the cramp legroom and the hangovers picked up the night before. Someone came up with the bright idea of staying out all night until the bus arrived and sleeping the duration. But because we were jumping off eagerly at each stop to find the nearest toilet, we didn't actually get much sleep! Eventually after what seemed a lifetime on the roads, we pulled into a grey, and cold Christchurch.
The reason why we were visiting Christchurch was to attend an old work colleagues wedding. I used to work with Lisa in the DTP department of Bonhams, some of you will know her. She moved back to NZ last year to start a new life (and maybe a new life?) in her motherland!
The wedding wasn't until the next day so we took the opportunity to have an early night, it was going to be a big one tomorrow!
Friday 10th December
After a manic search for a suit hire company, we eventually found one and got suited and booted, deciding on the plain black trousers look instead of the cream 3 piece I had my eye in the window! Lisa and Mike had laid on an old English Double Decker to ferry all their guests to the wedding.
Once we arrived the golf course, we had a quick peak at the table plan to check out where, and who, we would be sitting next to. We were shocked to find that everyone were couples, hopefully no one got the wrong idea about us? Luckily we noticed on the table plan, another 2 ladies that were on their own, conveniently sat our table. We eagerly looked around the room hoping to see 2 blonde, 21 year old ladies sat by themselves, but to no avail. They actually ended up being the opposite. One was pregnant, and the other was a mum of 3! That said they were really nice and funny, as were the other 2 couples sat our table. Lisa had obviously thought about the table plan!
To cut a long day short, the wedding was brilliant, if not for the rain that spoiled the photographs outside. Lisa made everyone laugh by mucking up her vowels, the speeches made everyone laugh, especially Lisa's uncle that told a good Scottish joke. The food was amazing, we seemed to impress everyone by going up for thirds - well it was our first proper meal in a month! Then we danced the night away, after watching the newlyweds perform their well-practised routine! We had a brilliant time and were really glad we got to experience it.
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It was always going to be hard for any city to live up to our expectations after Queenstown. Although we didn't dislike Christchurch, it wasn't the most interesting city we had visited in the past month. But New Zealand had impressed. I had done so many things along the way that I had always dreamed of, and experienced so much. New Zealand isn't cheap, I spent about 1500 pounds in a month, but it was worth every penny.
We visited a lot of really nice cities and towns and met a lot of good friends along the way. We did eventually grow tired of the big green buses, but we did see some amazing sights on them and found out a lot of extra knowledge from the experienced drivers. Yes, it rains a lot, but then what did we expect!?
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The land known as down under was calling, what we had travelled half way across the world to see. We packed up our things for the last time and drove with Dave, Kate and Louise to the airport. As for Dave and Kate, we would see them again in Sydney, but it was a sad goodbye to Louise who was returning back to the UK the following week.
I cant wait for the Kiwi reunion in 2006!
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