Days 16

We set out for the Mount Cook National Park supposedly to see the famous mountain and also the Edmund Hillary statue. We saw the latter but the mountain was shrouded in mist. Fortunately we had been able to see it ealier from the vantage point of a helicopter. We went on to another Lake (name escapes me) and saw the Church of the Good Shepherd - which is multi-denominational and instead of a stained glass window has a view right down the lake surrounded by mountains- it was magnificent. There is also a statue of a sheep dog nearby - to commemorate all the sheep dogs who work so hard on the surrounding stations. We then drove across the Canterbury Plains to Christchurch. There are an awful lot of sheep here! And also huge huge irrigating machines some up to a kilometer long! Nz is experiencing a drought at present so they are all working frantically. The weather went some way to putting things right beacuse it rained on and off all day. Today is the last full day of our visit and we went on the Christchurch Tram circuit, stopping of at the botanical gardens (very English) and then to the Gondola which climbs up a mountain and gives 360 degree view of the area. As the sun had come out it was stunning. Tomorrow we leave for Australia and we have so many things to remember and we are so pleased that we came.