Day 25 - Last Day in New Zealand and Two Thursdays

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We slept in as late as we could in order to be rested for the long flight. Our shuttle to the airport wasn’t until lunch so we used the morning to explore our Chateau on the Park. They have beautiful gardens, a tiny vineyard and a little putting green. They even offer free golf at the course across the street but we didn’t have enough time. We goofed around and then walked all around Hagley Park, strolled around the Avon River, and saw the Christchurch Botanical Gardens. We watched people playing golf, tennis and croquet. You should have seen the (surprisingly young) guys playing croquet so seriously. We couldn’t make heads or tails of it, just like cricket, rugby and netball. We’re getting itchy feet to get home so we caught the shuttle to the airport to wait and shop there. We didn’t find much at Christchurch and the flight to Auckland was uneventful. The Auckland Airport had a lot to look at, good thing since we had hours to wait. We caught our flight at 11pm. We slept for about 5 hours and watched a few movies. Food was good and we were in Los Angeles before we knew it. We left on Thursday at 11pm and arrived on Thursday at 2pm. Go figure. We stayed at the Airport Embassy Suites and they score points as usual. We were headed to PF Chang’s for dinner (a new tradition thanks to the Donovans) but once we got all cozy, we didn’t want another cab anywhere. We cried over the lost Lettuce Rolls and Mongolian Beef but recovered quickly. We ordered in room service and lived in the lap of luxury with real bathtubs, USA Today, and American TV. We tried to sleep but did get up wide-awake at midnight. This was a good stop to ease into real life. Almost home. That’s it for now. Stay tuned.

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