Is this really the end?!

(More pics are up at http://photos.yahoo.com/mollyfoos under "end of NZ")

Hello all! We have made our way back to christchurch and will be staying in our old flat until we head off to Wellington--which is in 4 days! Our "last horay" around the south island was great. We managed to re-visit our favorite places (Lake Tekepo, Mt. Cook, Milford Sound, Wanaka, the Glaciers) and do a few things that we didn't do the first 2 times around! We visited the Caitlins for the first time but unfortunately, the weather and the tides were working aganist us. But seeing as we only has a few days of rain, we were okay with that. But even with the yuck weather, we were able to get really close to 2 yellow-eyed penguins at a hide (same one we were at mom and ry) and were just loving that!! We got to see some great sunrises and sunsets and I've become quite addicted to dawn and dusk!! We drove the 2 hours from Te Anau to Milford Sound (and had to get chains for our tires--we didn't get to use them but it was fun nonetheless!) and b/c it was rather wet and rainy, we were SURROUNDED by water falls! We did an overnight cruise in Milford and while it didn't come close to our Doubtful Sound cruise (how could we top that!?) it was still awesome. We got to see a handful of Fiordland Crested Penguins (the rarest in the world) for the first time and the waterfalls were just pouring out all around us. The weather cleared in the morning so we got a nice view of all the snow covered peaks and our drive back to Te Anau was beautiful! We met a girl from Scotland on the cruise (she tried to convince us to jump in the water--then wussed out herself!!) and wound up giving her a ride back from Milford. Always fun picking up an extra for a little bit! After Milford, we made our way to Queenstown, where, you guessed it---we flung ourselves off of a bridge!!!! It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! I couldn't help but think of those crazy boy cousins of mine! Johhny and Michael--you would have LOVED IT!! After the bungy jump, we headed off to the Glaciers and set up a day walk on Fox Glacier. Complete with spikes on our boots and walkng picks, we made our way high up onto the glacier. I have to say--it was nothing like I expected! I had this image of a nice leasurely walk across the flat part off a glacier---um, no! Our guide was cutting "steps" as we walked, and we were stepping (or jumping if you happen to be short like me!) across these big crevices that were either filled with water, or went down for hundreds of meters! I have to say, it got my heart racing more then once! Good times! We ended our trip with a fabulous tour around Monteith's Brewery and for 10 bucks, it was WELL worth it!! Especially since we got to taste 8 beers afterwards and had free range of the bar for a few minutes!

So now, it's all about living up our last few days in christchurch---and selling everything we possibly can!! Our car (tear--good ol mills!) was a success and after only a few hours on TradeMe (kinda like Ebay), someone came to look and offered us a fair amount for it. I'm sure we could have gotten a bit more if we waited it out but it's nice that it's done and as it works out, we got to have a car for almost a year for $250 bucks each. Not too shabby! We have 4 days to make everything we have fit into small bags! If you saw the 2 rooms we've taken over with our stuff, you would only be able to laught at us!! It'll be a misison for sure!

Hope all is well at home! Hope everyone is keeping their eyes open for jobs!! Especially if it involves soccer or ski slopes!! God knows I'm not ready for a "real" job just yet!!