After our hike we had a super drive back to Christchurch through the mountains and the view was excellent - shows how much we had missed on the way in. In Christchurch we cruised around looking for a campsite which had hot showers as boy did we need one! We ended up in the New Brighton area which has a massive sandy beach. The campsite's shower and toilet block had been condemned following the earthquake but the portaloos and porta showers were miles better than many we have used on this trip.
In the morning the manager told us that the hills we could see were at the epicentre of the earthquake. We went for a long walk along the beach towards the hills and saw quite a few damaged houses and loads of reconstruction going on. It was distressing to see houses which had fallen over the cliffs and to think of the horror as the earthquake happened.
In the afternoon we drove through Lyttleton to Governors Bay and had lunch by the sea. It had started hailing again so we drove back to New Brighton. We spotted a potential freedom camp spot for our last night which was by the beach. As freedom camping is usually banned within towns and cities I popped into the police station to get approval. At 9 pm Christchurch City Council put on their annual firework event from the pier so we were able to enjoy this amazing display from the beach near our overnight spot. A fitting end to celebrate our 3 weeks on the south island.
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