Days 19 & 20 At Christchurch and Travelling Home

On day 19 I woke at about 7.00am … a bit of a sleep in for me after the days of riding. Had a better night of sleep not being annoyed by the constant itching of the bites I received in the last couple of days of the ride. I think there might have been bed bugs at the last motel we stayed at on the ride!

After getting a takeaway coffee it was breakfast which Chris prepared which included scrambled eggs, bacon and tomatoes. Great start to the day!

After breakfast it was bike cleaning and packing time which took a couple of hours to complete.

After a sandwich lunch Chris took us to the NZ Air Force museum which was interesting. After this it was back to Chris’s house until dinner which was a real nosh-up of casseroles vegetables followed by apple pie bought by Ray who joined us for the final dinner.

We all reflected over dinner on the highs and lows of the trip and the wonderful fellowship we enjoyed on the ride.

Some statistics were discussed including the facts that we had ridden 770 kms , the van had travelled over 4000 kms.

Quite impressive really!

After this we went to bed ahead of the 2.30 am wake up to travel to the airport!

On day20 we ( Rob , Stephen and myself) woke early as expected and made our way to the airport for the flight back home.

Phil is to fly home later in the day….

In some ways it is sad to leave after such a great trip but the memories of what we have done and achieved will live us forever!

Special thanks to our NZ hosts for showing us around the South Island of New Zealand and to Chris for making this happen… he is an inspiration to us all for his energy in all things cycling 

Thanks also to the Aussie crew who made the trip over the ditch. Your friendship and fellowship over the past 3 weeks had made a real impact on the success of the NZ Bike Trip

This is the final sign off on this trip blog.

Catch you on the next biking adventure!

No pictures on this blog…..