And back in Melbourne - the world's most liveable city ... for the fifth year running!

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Seeing as our body clocks thought that it was the middle of the night we both slept for most of the first half of the flight from Santiago to Auckland - once we'd been fed.

Later on during the flight I watched 'Truth' an interesting film starring Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford that explored the truth - or otherwise - of the 2004 CBS 60 Minutes investigation into George W Bush's military service (or 'allegedly' lack thereof).

Bernie was grumpy when we arrived in Auckland. After spending the entire flight unable to fully recline his seat at the back of the aircraft his back was sore. He was in the back row with two other guys. Initially the other larger guy was in the centre and it was pretty squishy, but they eventually worked out they'd all be more comfortable (sort of?) if the smallest guy sat in the middle.

We arrived into Terminal 2, Auckland's International Terminal and had to transfer to the Melbourne Terminal, Terminal 1. This was achieved without any difficulty; thank goodness, because Bernie really wasn't in the mood for any hassles.

After two hours on the ground in NZ and another three hours in flight - finally - we were back home in Melbourne. It is a long, long way from South America to Australia!

Because we had been in South America we found that we couldn't use the Smart Gate, we had to report to a staffed immigration counter. When we fronted up there my passport wouldn't scan properly so I had to be referred to another immigration counter so they could check that my passport hadn't been tampered with. Phew, my passport was cleared by the second scanner so it seems it was a scanner problem rather than an issue with my passport. Even when you know that you've done nothing wrong it's a bit of a worry when you are singled out for extra attention by the immigration officials.

We had been on land where guanacos had been so we did the right thing and exited via the red custom's channel. After a cursory glance at the soles of our hiking boots the customs officials decided we were good to go.

Kerry met us and drove us home to Hallam. The kennels provided a home delivery service so we had arranged for the dogs to be delivered home this morning. Our good friend Julie met them there this morning because the kennels only deliver dogs home during the morning and will only leave them if someone is there to meet them. They had only been home alone for a couple of hours, but they were very excited to welcome their Mum and Dad back home.

And so, almost nine months after finishing this holiday, I have finally finished the travel blog!



Steps 13,931 (10.87km)

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