Dec 29- 31 - Blenheim! The town of Blenheim itself wasn't all that exciting, and our campsite was on the okay-ish kinda side, but we were really happy to have made it there. Actually the area the campsite was in was quite nice, just a short walk to the beach...it was just the site itself that wasn't the most convenient. Kind of out in the open and near a road. Ah well. So we set up the tent, happy that we were staying for two nights and wouldn't have to pack up and move again...little did we know...hahaha. So we just sat on the beach and relaxed that evening. The next morning, we were picked up for our Marlborough region wine tour. It was us, the tour guide/driver, and a British family of four. There were some really delicious wines and lunch was amazing. After lunch we met up with more people who joined the tour - 3 Germans and 2 Serbians. We ended at a chocolate shop. Instead of driving us right home, the driver took us to Picton (he was going there anyway to drop the Serbians off). Picton is where you get the ferry from the South Island to Wellington on the North Island. It's a really cute little town and it was nice to get the chance to see it. When we arrived back at the campsite, our tent was a disaster. The day had been sunny and beautiful, but apparently our campsite had been...you guessed it...WINDY. It was actually mangled beyond belief and our hope of just sitting around doing nothing when we got back was sadly shattered. Jeremy assessed the situation and decided there was no way we could stay in the same spot because there was no wind shelter at all, so we walked all of our stuff into the more forest-y area and found a patch of trees to provide shelter and support. Jeremy rigged up some crazy ropes and stuff to try to keep it from completely collapsing in the night - the whole process took about two hours! Then we finally got to eat our sandwiches while watching the sunset and sharing our Marlborough wine purchase. Luckily, the tent lasted the night and that was our final camping night in New Zealand, so we left it behind and were off on the final lef of our journey - we had come full circle back to Christchurch for New Year's Eve!

31 - Christchurch. It was nice to return the rental car in one piece. We got a shuttle back to the hotel we had orginally stayed at, which had been called Hotel So less than two weeks before but had suddenly transformed into the All Seasons hotel while we were away. Christchurch was not in the best shape after the Boxing Day aftershocks - lots of businesses had signs saying that the buildings weren't safe to enter because they weren't structurally sound. We walked around the city a bit and saw that there were going to be fireworks at midnight in Cathedral Square. Got some Thai takeout (which Jeremy LOVED...insanely spicy, not very tasty to me, even though I generally like spice) and holed up in the hotel room. Randomly ended up watching "Marley and Me" (Who knows, really...) Turns out it's a bit of a tearjerker. Realized we should maybe actually make our way out of the hotel room at some point in the night, so we went into town and watched the fireworks display. It was...cute. Kind of like a small town Canada Day display, but there was that Nre Year's feeling in the air and some local bands playing and it was quite enjoyable. We went to the bar beside our hotel after that but didn't stay long, and I spent a good hour on Skype with Ronan after midnight while Jeremy slept. So that was that. Our holiday was over and we would be parting ways in a few hours!