I awoke shortly after 7:00AM, after only about three hours sleep. Tired, but not feeling any of the ill effects of the previous night, I was able to make it to breakfast and absorb whatever food I could before we were to load our luggage back on the coach and head off back to Christchurch on this, our final day of the tour. For the final time, Gavin played Anastacia as we drove away from Lake Ohau. As we approached the bridge in which we had to get off the coach the day before, Gavin screamed in fake horror. Tracy stomped on the accelerator as we rumbled across the bridge safely. This had confirmed our belief that Gavin's comment about the bridge collapsing under the weight of the coach and all of us on board was untrue and that Gavin was just just having fun messing around with us. It was another beautiful day, with clear sky as far as the eye could see. We made a stop along the road for us to see a beautiful view of Mt Cook, the highest point in New Zealand. Gavin said only one in twenty visitors to New Zealand get to see the top of Mt Cook, due to the unpredictable weather. I suppose all 40+ of us were just lucky on this day then. Soon after that, we made a stop at Lake Tekapo for a short morning coffee break and to see "the most photographed church in New Zealand", the Church of the Good Shepherd. Maybe it's the most photographed because that's what all visitors are told and so we all then take a picture of it! We made one additional stop for lunch and then it was pretty much non-stop driving back to Christchurch. Having slept about only three hours after being in the hot tub, I was asleep for a good majority of the drive, as were most others. Whenever I would wake up for just a short moment, there was an eerie silence on the coach.

We got into Christchurch by mid-afternoon and checked into the same hotel we were at in our last stay in the church city, the Pacific Park Hotel. This time, our roommates were arranged for us and we stayed in a different part of the hotel, where each room would have a normal door entrance on one side and a sliding glass door on the other. On this last night, I would be sharing with John, Matan and David. The tour was officially over, but the majority of us would be at dinner together. Gavin booked us into the Outlaws Restaurant in the hotel again, as it was not only a Sunday like the last time we were there, but it was also Easter, and not much was going to be open in the city. We had several hours until dinner and many went off into the city. Mike, Julie and I did just that, stopping at a cafe for coffee. We sat outside, soaking in the sunshine. We just couldn't believe the fantastic weather we had through the whole tour, with really only one day of bad weather, back in Fox Glacier.

We headed back to the hotel and into Outlaws Restaurant for dinner. The same type of shows and dancing we had the first time we were there were present again. Also, the same Contiki group that was in Christchurch when we were last there were back again. We also had the television theme guessing game as before. Like the last time, two of the three finalists were from our group, one of which was the reigning champion, Damien. However, he would be upset this time as Sinead won the grand prize of a big bowl of alcohol, to which she also shared with others in our group.

Final dinner at Outlaws:
Matt, Sinead, Hayley, Brian, Gavin, Sheree, Jodie, Leanne, Julie, 2G

As dinner winded down, the television and microphone were wheeled out again for yet another night of karaoke. Our group had significantly diminished by then, as several goodbyes were said. However, many of us still remained, as we were mainly the spectators this night, while the other Contiki group did most of the karaoke honors. They were only about halfway through their tour and still going strong while we were at the end and winding down. Some convened in the bar for a while while others went outside or some fresh night air and played more stupid poker. However, when we heard voices in the restaurant singing "I'm Outta Love", we all ran in to see what remained of our group in the restaurant singing on the stage.

A final karaoke to Anastacia:
Gavin, Eric, Claire, Sinead, Stefanie, Chad, Tina, Hayley, Vicky

View of Mt Cook across Lake Ohau

Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo

2G and Me

Leanne, Me and Julie