Day 15… Queenstown to Christchurch

Another long day on the bus… it was a 9 hour trip with quick bathroom breaks every couple of hours. We drove through snow-capped mountains though. I mean seriously... you never can see enough or get sick of the views in New Zealand. It's all stunning!

I'm addicted to the sight and taste of glacier water. It's indescribable.

Kelsey and I explored Christchurch some more and visited their Botanical Gardens. I could have stayed in the gardens for days. It was so gorgeous.

This flower bed was huge and reminded me of my mom because it displayed about 20 different purple flowers. She and Kelsey both love purple.

Kelsey and I "splurged" on a nice hotel for our last night. We stayed in little backpacker hostels the entire holiday and were quite ready for private shower and sleeping quarters. It was such a fun room with lots of high-tech gadgets. We took showers in a circular shower stall. We had a fire crackling on our flat screen television. We woke up to the gradual rising of the sun... the light above the bed gradually turned on and the alarm music increased in volume over a 5-min period of time. If that doesn't wake you, the television turns itself on to the hotel's complimentary "Good morning" station 10 minutes after the alarm time starts. It was a crazy experience and the perfect end to our holiday.

Day 16 was our 6:20am (yikes!) flight to Auckland, a shuttle bus ride home, and a blessed homecoming to my fantastic family. I missed them!