Saturday 20th October 2001, Christchurch NZ

The Post Office was only open until 12pm, which meant we spent a slightly frantic morning sorting out unwanted clothes and other items to send home. We managed to bin a lot of pure rubbish that we had managed to accumulate over the last few months. Then it was straight up to the Post Office to mail our packages – including birthday presents for John’s brother, Mike, and Brigid’s Mum.

John had started to complain about the state of Brigid’s hair – not because it was now purple, but because it had begun to resemble a birds nest! Although keen that it should grow back to a less ‘dykey’ length before returning home, Brigid agreed that something needed to be done, and booked a ‘trim’.

We returned to the centre of town for lunch, and exchanged the compass. We then drove out to the airport to collect our re-issued tickets (now valid for Quantas flights instead of Ansett), and took the opportunity to pay our departure tax at the same time.

Back at the hotel, we did our washing and dithered over where to eat for our last meal in New Zealand. In the end we agreed that we had enjoyed the Strada Café, and (provided we weren’t tempted to visit the Irish bar again) we might as well eat there.

Over dinner, we discussed the future and came up with the beginnings of a business plan …