Hanmer was bigger than most of the towns we'd passed with well-laid out roads and tree-lined avenues. The next day, we went straight to the springs and rented a private room for ourselves. Every facility was meticulously documented and very clean. Bathing in the warm sulphur waters of the spring was indeed very refreshing. We spent a good hour at the springs, and set out from Hanmer Springs towards Christchurch on what was the last complete day of our holiday. This part of the journey was more urban - the freeway had more concrete, there were more signs to be observed along the road, and the traffic was more than what we'd seen before. This, of course, was not surprising because we were now driving down the highway #1 again (further north on the same road that we set out from Christchurch many many days ago). The 121 km journey didn't take too long either, and we were in downtown Christchurch in the early part of the afternoon. We were trying to take in as much of New Zealand as we could in these last few hours we had in this beautiful country, and in doing this, all our senses were on high alert! Towards the evening, we checked into our motel (close to the airport) and then called up the owner of our car who offered to come by and pick it up.

Our flight to Melbourne was early the next day and a taxi was waiting to take us to the airport. Immigration was a breeze and an uneventful flight later, we landed up at Melbourne Airport where we spent the next 16 hours for our next connection - and not once in those 16 hours did a single official ask us for our transit visas. We knew each and every corner of that airport wing at the end of it all. Plus, it gave us enough time to relax, bask in the sun streaming through the huge glass windows, write letters to our parents, and reminisce about the great time we had on this holiday.