Blurry Kelly

Left Oamaru this morning and headed for Christchurch. Very flat land most of the way - not much to stop for - ended up having lunch in a rest area just off the road. Carried on and arrived in Christchurch around 1pm. Found our hostel - Foley Towers - quite easily. Shocked to see all the earthquake damage as we drove through the city centre - the big quakes were a couple of years ago, yet there are still lots of buildings sitting empty (presumably unsafe and awaiting reconstruction or demolition), huge gaps where other buildings fell or were demolished, and bits of streets still cordoned off.

Checked in to our hostel and brought everything in from the car, then went across the street to a café for coffee, before coming back and repacking everything ready for our flight to Auckland tomorrow.

Drove to Darfield in the afternoon, to go and see my old schoolfriend Kelly, and her husband and kids. Really cool to see the house they've built, and the kids were very sweet, and very excited to have visitors. Kelly cooked us a delicious roast and Matt had made a 'self-saucing chocolate pudding' for dessert. After we'd eaten, they gave us a beautiful glass dish that one of their neighbours had made - and then took us over to meet her in her workshop (in this really cool old barn). Didn't take many photos at all today, so this one with a very blurry Kelly in will have to do!