Look who we found on the other side of the World!

---

Day 110
24th December

In the morning we checked out, walked down the road to get some Christmas gear and had a really nice bagel for breakfast (parmesan bagel with sun dried tomato cream cheese-yummy!) while we waited for Gillie and Simon to come and pick us up from the motel at lunchtime. We were very excited! Soon they arrived and of course there were some big hugs! It was just really fantastic to see them again!

We piled in the car with all of our gear and headed off into the centre of Christchurch. We were staying with Simon’s mum for a few days who lives about 40 minutes out of Christchurch so we decided to get some lunch and hang round for a bit before heading back. First we had a look around this craft centre that had lots of different shops selling some beautiful artwork, jewellery etc. Very tempted to buy things but I resisted!! We then went to this great pub nearby and sat outside in the sunshine having yummy food and catching up on what had been happening in our lives. Even though we had been on opposite sides of the world, us in South America, and them in Vietnam, we’d found our experiences at times had been very similar! We were happy they were settling in well though (and they have the nicest apartment!).

After lunch we got in the car and headed off for a walk in the Botanical Gardens which is completely beautiful and has this amazing rose garden. Both Gillie and Ellory were snapping away, getting arty shots of the beautiful flowers. An excellent way to walk off our yummy lunch. After that we headed off to the shopping centre to get some food and drink for the next day. Being Christmas Day and all, we wanted to do it in style! We also had to buy some more Christmas presents (nothing like leaving it to the last minute) for each other. Ellory and I gave ourselves some money to buy presents for each other. Gillie and Simon did the same and we split into teams (girls vs boys) to go present shopping. What then followed was a slightly comedy running around the shopping centre and hiding in shops whenever we spotted the boys! We got it all done though and after we had picked up the food and drink we headed back to Simon’s mum’s house. She wasn’t there as she was currently flying back from Sydney after visiting her daughter (Simon’s sister). We had some pizza and wrapped our presents before turning in for the night. Myself, Ellory and Gillie were still really weirded out by the fact it was hot on Christmas Eve but were fully prepared to embrace this new style of Christmas.

Love Liz xxx

---