The weather treated us kindly for our last full day in New Zealand. We had glorious sunshine, even if it was still a chilly 18 degrees and quite windy at times.

Perfect weather for taking a Segway tour! This had been Liam’s special request as he has wanted to try a Segway for quite some time. We met our guide Graham in the large park (Hagley Park) in Christchurch CBD. We comprised the entirety of his group which was great. After about 30 minutes of instruction and practice on the Segways we took off into the streets of Christchurch. We had a very enjoyable and informative 2 hours. Enjoying trying out and getting used to the Segways. Informative, as Graham showed us some of the sights of Christchurch and talked us through some of the more interesting aspects of the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake. Colin and the kids voted this one of the best things we did these holidays and Colin has rediscovered his desire to try to make a Segway!

There were a couple of things we had been told about on the tour that we wanted to get a closer look at. Some markets, the museum and a big playground. The museum was particularly interesting with lots of interactive displays for the kids to enjoy. We could have spent a lot longer here - yet another case of not being able to see and do everything. The playground was amazing though, so it was worth missing out on some museum time to make time for the kids to run amok on giant slides, climb up towers, swing on the flying fox and lose their balance on a spinny thing!

Back to our accommodation for a crazy assessment of all that we have amassed in our month here and a frantic attempt to fit it all into bags whose weights and sizes the airline will accept. I am not sure I have succeeded but we seem to have managed to come very close. And now to bed for our last night in New Zealand.