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Sunday morning we headed out for a fairly long drive to our next location. As we began our drive, we had low lying clouds through the hills.

Eventually we made it to the coast and we found a couple of coves where we pulled off the road and found quite a few seals. They were just below us on the rocks. We even saw a mother nursing her baby.

We finally got to our stop for the night. What a beautiful place we have for the next two nights! It’s an eco lodge – with 8 rooms and common areas including a full kitchen.

We took advantage of the kitchen to cook some chicken and meet some of the other guests. Some were from the Netherlands, Key West, San Francisco and other countries. It was nice to share stories of where we had travelled and get ideas for future stops.

Tomorrow we make a day trip….

Late on Friday I got a message from Air New Zealand letting me know there could be weather cancellations of our flight on Saturday. Both rain and high winds were in the forecast. They were offering rebooking at no additional charge with a wider window than usual.

We decided to risk keeping things as they were since we had our reservations all arranged for the South Island.

We did get to the airport earlier and the car rental return completed by 1030. Our flight wasn’t due to leave until 1 pm so before we dropped our luggage we checked at the counter and were able to get on the noon flight.

The flight was uneventful. Once we were above the clouds, we were in sun and the turbulence was done. There isn’t much time for anything on a 90 minute flight. A choice of water, tea or coffee with a real small snack package.

Arriving in Christchurch, we had a fairly long wait at the car rental counter, but finally were on our way. After a false start (I grabbed the reservation info for when we return to Christchurch), we headed north of town to our motel for the night. It was about an hour and a half drive plus we had to make a grocery stop since we didn’t have much leftover. It meant we didn’t arrive until about 6:30.

Tomorrow we make our way north along the coast. It’s about 350 km, but estimated to be at least a 5 hour drive. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!