The boat has been hauled. Projects completed. Car packed. We decided that we wanted to try and make it to Christchurch for Christmas so we worked as hard and fast as we could for a couple of days to get ourselves off the boat. I found a hostel in Christchurch close enough to City Center to enjoy it but far enough we don't have parking problems and I got the ferry booked. We headed out about 10am with a long drive and an 8:00pm ferry from Wellington to the south island to catch. We didn't really stop along the way for photos but I must say we greatly enjoyed the views from the car.

The roads in NZ are mostly 2 land roads with speed limits of 100kph (about 65 mph). I've been finding it hard to stay about that speed. I don't even register that I'm speeding till I hit about 120kph and look down. Unfortunately I looked down a little to late on the drive and got pulled over. I saw the cop, looked down, and hit the brakes but it was to late. The cop gave me a good lecture on speeding and the comparison of mph to kph. Then he said "I could give you a $80 (NZ) speeding ticket but that would really cut into your travel money" my response was "$80!" He of course thought I was gasping and thinking oh god that's a lot of money (which it is) but not compared to the US where the same ticket would be a couple hundred bucks and a Saturday in traffic school. Seriously a 20k speeding ticket costs about $60US. I was thankful for not getting the ticket but Mark and I made some good jokes about pre-paying some of those for the future. I could keep some on my dash and next time I see lights just toss the pre-pay back.

We made it to the ferry with plenty of time and enjoyed the ride. We found a nice little nook that had laptop power. I took a bit of a nap and watched some movies and Mark did some reading. We were happy that drinks and food were cheap since we wouldn't be getting in till about 11:30pm and it would be to late to get dinner anywhere else.

The hostel I picked was close to the ferry and they left the keys in the mailbox for us. We got an early start and finished the drive to Christchurch. The hostel is really nice and they are had a Christmas Eve BBQ for everyone here. We met a few people and it's a good location for Christmas. I got our room decorated with a tree, stockings, and gifts so it really feels like Christmas.