The Great South Island Road Trip Comes To An End

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It's hard to believe that our 4 week stint in the campervan has finally come to an end but today's the day the Fellowship of the Frog must return to its rightful owners at Escape Rentals. Although in many ways we will be glad to no longer have the hassles of finding free campsites and places beyond the realm of the evil, evil sandflies, it was sad to think that another part of our adventure is over.

This morning, we shared breakfast with our new Korean friend, Wan, and it seems I have found my long lost Asian twin. Not only did we both turn up this morning wearing identically coloured red t-shirts and beige shorts but it transpired that we both knew the words to many a duff 80s glam rock tune, much to Glynn's dismay. The karaoke style singing he has endured from me all this time was suddenly coming at him in stereo, poor sod! slowly got ourselves all packed up for the very last time and said our farewells to Wan. As we left Amberley Beach, we caught his lone figure running down the street behind us, arms waving frantically which made us both laugh and feel sad at the same time but I'm sure we'll see him again.

Driving back to Christchurch, we checked back in at the Shalom Backpackers where we had stayed last time we were in town. After emptying the van of all our stuff, we took it back to the depot where our Kiwi chum Michelle was waiting for us. We regaled her for a good half hour with stories of all the highs and lows of our trip though I daresay she's heard it all before from other campers. Still, it was great to see a familiar face again after all the constant moving around.

At the hostel we got down to the serious task of doing some much-needed laundry and trying to decide on a definite route and corresponding dates for the changes we want to make to the remainder of our round the world trip. As we are feeling ready for a challenge, we have decided to completely cut out our 3 week visit to Australia as it would just be too similar to New Zealand. We now intend to travel from New Zealand straight through to Chile and then on to Easter Island, Peru and Bolivia, finishing up in Argentina before we head back to the UK at the end of May. It all comes down to how much it will cost to change our One World flight tickets and whether there are seats available on the flights we want. Time will tell....keep your fingers crossed!

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Photos

Separated at Birth
Could Wan and Jude be long lost twins? Too spooky!

Father & Son
Glynn gives Jish a pep talk on women although it doesn't look like he's suggesting the chocolates and flowers approach!

New Friends
Glynn, Wan & Crystal, Jude & Jish. The international network of friends strikes again!