Christchurch. Greymouth. Los Angeles.

Ok, here goes the last bundle of pictures. Let me just start by saying that New Zealand is as gorgeous as everyone says. Everywhere you look you see a spectacular view. Even within the city boundaries you can still see the mountains and gorgeous landscape. It truly is a special place. And I certainly hope we can go back some day. That being said at times it was a bit like having a beautiful cake plopped in front of you and then being told, no you cannot eat it. We could look but we could not taste all of the wonders that the south island of New Zealand holds mostly because of our kids ages but also because our time constraint.

But we did what we could and soaked in all of the scenery. We drove from Christchurch on the east coast to Greymouth on the west coast. This vehicular traverse of the country took a whopping three hours, ha! It was a beautiful drive through Arthur's Pass full of one-way (!) bridges and rambling roads. We stayed in Greymouth, explored the beach, met up with friends and then drove back to Christchurch for the duration of our trip.

Kea bird. I think he wanted to hitch a ride. He was right behind me when I got back into the car.

one way

rocky beach in Greymouth

Pancake Rocks (Punkaiki) just north of Greymouth

Cambridge friends! We met up with Leah, Hazel, Rose, Dara and Jeremy at Monteith's Brewery in Greymouth for drinks (for the adults) and lots of giggles from the kids. Ollie was thrilled to spend time with kids that he knows!

Oliver and Leah. Goofball and a sweetheart.

On our drive back to Christchurch we stopped at the Castle Rocks which are natural rock formations.

baa

Back in Christchurch we found a favourite coffee shop (C1 espresso) which not only had amazing coffee but pinball machines (Oliver witnessed his mother's genius skills at pinball) and a refurbished bank tube delivery system for french fries!