Last days, Mt Cook, Timaru and Akaroa.

The next morning we were up and on the way early as we had a 3 and a half hour drive to Lake Tekapo. The day was fantastic and clear so we were determined to do a flight over Mt Cook and the Tasman, Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers. We made it to the airport in time and were in for a treat. John was lucky enough to score the co-pilot's seat and for the next hour and a half we were in awe of the magnificent colours below us. The glaciers look so much bigger from the air, and the lakes around the mountains were a gorgeous turquoise colour from the glacial sand. It was so clear and the colours so brillant we kept pinching ourselves. Definitely another thing ticked off our bucket list!
All too soon our flight was over, but the memories will be with us forever, and the photos will too. We then drove on in to Lake Tekapo for lunch and marvelled at the glorious colours of the autumn trees, the clear mountains and sky and the glacial lakes. Just a picture!
It was then another hour and a bit to the seaside township of Timaru for the night, and after our big day it was nice to stay in and cook for ourselves tonight.

Our last day dawned too quickly and it was time to head off to Christchurch. We decided to visit the coastal town of Akaroa first however, on the recommendations of several friends and we were not disappointed. The drive into Akaroa around the Banks peninsula was noteworthy on its own for magnificent scenery but the best view is overlooking the harbours. Akaroa is the site of the country's first French settlement and some descendants of the original French settlers still live there. It was so cute and quaint to see the French street names and the French provincial village style houses. I could so live here! I only wished we had more time to stay a night or two in this area, but we only had a couple of hours.
The drive back to Christchurch was easy and my fears of not being able to find my way to the airport unfounded. Before we handed in our hire car and checked into our accommodation near the airport for the night we had one last place to visit. The International Antarctic centre. This was a really good museum, well set out and the blue penguin exhibits good. We watched them being feed, we experienced what it would be like to be in an antarctic storm (freezing doesn't do the feeling justice!) and had a fun ride on a Hagland transporter, hanging on tight up the steep hills. Definitely worth a couple of hours visit.
All too soon it was time to tidy out the car and return it to the hire company at the airport. Our accommodation for the night provided free shuttle service so the trip back was easy. We had our last night in NZ in at the hotel, enjoying a lovely last meal and savouring the local Pinot Noir for one last time. Off to bed early for our 4 am rise, after somehow managing to squeeze things back into our suitcases for the return to Australia.
It has been a magnificent 26 days in this Sth Island of New Zealand everything we had hoped for and much much more and we feel so sure we will return soon that we didn't cash in our remaining NZ Dollars!