The Last of New Zealand

We are starting to realize what Shalyn and Ryan meant when they came to visit us when they said "4 weeks just isn't enough" because it isn't! Sometimes when we look back it seems as though all we did was drive, drive and drive a little more, but really we wanted to see as much as possible and when we look at the ground we've covered it's actually quite impressive. Looking over our pictures makes us so happy and we are going to have lots of fun going through them with our friends and family when we get home (less than 20 days!).

Since our last post we spent a day touring around Wellington and whilst on this exploration we decided to try out one of the top ten attractions in Wellington - the cable car(pictured). It began when a company took over a new suburb in Wellington in the late 1800s. Due to the fact that it was on a steep hill they needed a mode of transportation to get people down to the the city and to make it attractive for people to purchase land. In 1901 they began the construction of the cable car and after a year of work three tunnels were dug and the cable car was ready to go serving millions since.

Our last few nights were spent crossing the ferry back to the South Island and spending a night right on the beach. Elliot woke up to take a walk on the beach only to find numerous amounts of Paua shells! For those who don't know what Paua shells are, they are found in every gift shop here in New Zealand and you can actually buy polished ones or jewelery. I was so unbelievable happy when Elliot found them and then helped me pick out the best four. We are just crossing our fingers that we are able to bring them back home!

Later that day we drove by a seal colony only to find them all sprawled out relaxing on the rocks and the rest of Saturday was a beautiful drive all along the coast back to Christchurch. We spent our last night at an awesome campground right here in the city and now our bags are packed and we are ready to wait out our time until very early tomorrow morning when we fly to Sydney before arriving in Phuket, Thailand!

'Till next time,

Love, Amy & Elliot x