Last day in New Zealand!

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Well, since the last entry some slight problems arose... we missed our Virgin Blue flight from Cairns to Auckland because they didn't change their flights for daylight savings and Sarah didn't get the notification when they did. The first lady was somewhat of a b*tch but the other took pity and politely booked us into the flight for the next day. I think my tears got us out of the $80 charge. While Sarah haggled with them, I called the Cairns hostel, the tour we had booked for Auckland, and the hostel in Auckland... I think I needed to keep busy in order not to freak out. Clearly I don't deal well with unexpected problems in foreign airports...

We decided that since we had to stay an extra day we better do it right! We went for lunch and had mojitos, wandered the lagoon, and went to the cable ski that night. Its a square lake with cables above that pull kneeboarders, wakeboarders, etc through the water and over jumps and stuff. Sarah did a couples rounds, 2 successfully I believe, I provided the moral and vocal support! I became more vocally supportive after 5 beers too...

Caught the flight next day, despite an hour long delay, geez, if the delay had been the day prior, we would have made it... and we bought a well-deserved in-flight sparkling wine to toast our leaving Australia!

We arrived in Auckland at midnight and took a shuttle into town. Somehow our hostel room got double-booked so they upgraded us for free! We had a nice little private room with ensuite and TV! Woo! After a few hours of sleep we went for a walk around town and had lunch. We got pedicures in the afternoon because we had some extra NZ cash and Emma flew in from Christchurch to meet up with us. After dinner we had some drinks and watched like 3 movies on out little TV. Sarah went to sleep but Emma and I went down to the hostel bar to dance. After Emma went up to sleep, I stayed and made new friends at the hostel bar, them hung out in the hostel lounge with a group of English and Irish travelers until the early hours of the morning. At about 8 or 9 am we decided to go watch the rugby game at the pub. I don't think I realized that it was an Irish pub because I kept cheering for New Zealand and getting the dirtiest looks from people... After the game I came back up to the hostel to pack... Sarah and Emma had already checked out and gone to the Coromandel, which I would have known if I hadn't lost my phone! Sleep seemed overrated on my last night in New Zealand, I could always sleep on the plane! Sarah was slightly irritated with me, to say the least... No matter, I made it to the airport, checked in and fell asleep in the terminal for a few hours until my flight at 8:30 pm. Coincidentally, a bunch of Kiwis I met at the hostel were on the same flight.

The flight was nice, only 12 hours instead of the 14 hours to get there. There was an empty seat beside me again and a nice old lady on the aisle. After a few movies and some questionable airplane beef casserole I fell asleep. I woke in time for breakfast and we landed about 2 hours later. Customs and baggage seemed to take forever as I was eager to see my family! The moment I walked around the barrier and saw the beaming faces of my dad and brother, the tear gates opened... Though I had an absolutely fantastic trip and learned so much about myself and about other cultures and places and people, it was an amazing moment when I saw their faces, I was home!

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