Well the tour has finally finished and a lot of the participants have left or are leaving imminently. I am remaining in the hotel until Sunday when I am off to Sydney.

This morning, after breakfast and farewells, three of us went into the centre of Christchurch on the bus. There is still a lot of damage from the earthquake and a lot of building to be done. Apparently, according to Herbie, the residents have to pay an earthquake tax on top of their rates and that helps to pay for the reconstruction. We saw both the damaged old cathedral and the temporary cardboard one as well as the temporary memorial to the people who died. That is on the site of the building where most people died – a building that had been passed as quake proof. Bit of a scandal there.

Had lunch with special coffee and then watched some musicians in the square. Group of adults with learning difficulties were very interested. I thought you might like Gandalf playing the maracas.