Day 18

It was overcast in the morning and it began to rain as we drove South. We stopped at the hot pools in Hanmer for a swim before driving back to Christchurch.

Above: We stopped at Maruia falls on the way down for a quick look.

Above: Dinner at Holly’s house.

Day 19

We had a lazy day for most of the day but did a few climbs at Albert Tce in the evening after drinking delicious hot chocolate and eating muffins and chocolate cake at Coffee Culture.

1) We spent some time relaxing in Christchurch after arriving back. The weather forecast was bad so we spent longer than originally planned back in Christchurch.

2) Delicious cafe treats.

3) We went climbing at Albert Tce again.

Day 20

We went climbing at Cattlestop Crag and got some treats from the coffee shop in the evening.

Above: We went climbing at Cattle Stop crag.

Day 21

We didn’t do a whole lot. The weather was a bit average. I ended up going for a very short run around sugar loaf while Ari went walking.

Above: Tasty snacks for Holly’s Birthday brunch.

Above: Celebrating Holly’s Birthday.

Day 22

It was a warm morning. We did two tricky climbs at Bivy rock. I really enjoyed the second one as it had nice moves but still quite good hand holds.

We drove to Purau after climbing and met the family there. It was super hot by this stage and we went for a short kayak. The water was fine for swimming and I cooled off in it before we ate our picnic lunch in the shade.

We decided to take an adventurous route back and drove Port Levy by the small road. From there we continued to Pigeon bay by the unsealed road and on up to the Summit Road. We drove back to Christchurch via Little River.

1) We climbed at Bivvy Rock and I lead a really nice 19. This wasn’t it. This was the grovely 18 to the left. This climb had not very nice holds the other one had much better holds!

2) We met the family at Purau and went kayaking there. It was one of those meltingly hot summer days.

3) Then Ari and I decided to head back via the peninsula. We drove to Pigeon Bay and then up to the Summit Road. I’d never been along the road before so it was interesting to see. We continued back to Christchurch in the evening.