We packed our bags this morning after five weeks of having a car to leave things in. Somehow my bag had shrunk and all my clothes had grown, so nothing fit any more. I met an ethnic guy in the kitchen, while I was leaving all the food that they wouldn't let us take to Australia, and he told me that he'd spent a lot of time meditating with an Enlightened Person. I heard the capital letters.

The car hire people wouldn't let us leave the car at the airport, so we had to drive out of town for a while and take the car back. I mentioned that the battery wasn't behaving, and the starter motor needed attention, and that the tyres could do with replacing. The two guys ignored me, and, just like in the Fast Show, they had a look round the car and decided on the three things I told them. Oh well. We were dropped in the middle of town and headed for the post office.

We spent almost an hour in the post office, and a few hundred dollars sending things home - my photos, some winter clothes, a few souveneirs, and I had to keep filling out customs forms, which I'm not very good at. We decided against sending the coca toffee from Peru home because I don't think customs officers tend to see the funny side of that sort of thing.

We had a picnic outside Christchurch Cathedral, and wandered down to the river which had pretty bridges over it, and autumnal trees. It was lovely, but freezing, so we spent a while on the internet, and then went out for supper. Strangely enough we ended up in a sports bar, and I had to keep making Mikey buy more beer so that I could watch the cricket. Strange things have been happening to me on this trip. Mikey insisted on leaving before Shane Warne had broken the record for test wickets, so I still don't know if he managed it. We took a taxi back to the hostel cos it was cold and dark and a long way, and we didn't have a car any more, and then we realised that we hadn't written our postcards. So that's what we did.