Leaving New Zealand

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Leaving New Zealand and Wanaka
It had to happen some time we had to leave our new home Wanaka made very special because people we love are there. After a very cold night with howling wind and rain this morning the sun shone and the mountains all had a dusting of snow, simply stunning! We said our farewells and left quickly stopping at the post office to send back a parcel and no they haven't done surface mail for twenty years I was told. We left taking the short route to Queenstown and again were stunned by the snow on the mountains, Christmas day the temperature was 30 and now just a week later we have snow in mid summer. We stopped halfway along and joined others as they took photos and had snowball fights. We have had such a lovely time in New Zealand, the people have time for you they talk to you in the shops always asking how you are before asking what you'd like to buy. They appear to be genuinely interested in what you are doing and where you come from. The roads have little traffic and nothing is ever so full you can't do what you want to do. The food we have tasted has been excellent and the scenery simply stunning. Some places we would return to are Waiheiki Island, Auckland, Able Tasman and Wellington in the North Island and Akaroa, Wanaka, Arrowtown, Queenstown, lake Punakaki and Mount Cook in the South Island and some places we missed like Rotorua and the Coramandel. New Zealand is so much the place of the great outdoors and if you like walking, cycling, boating, skiing, extreme sports, hot springs and amazing scenery then you can't go far wrong having a holiday in NZ. Well we had to get to the airport and Queenstown is a small airport but has all you need including free wifi, so we eventually boarded our plane to Sydney. On arrival we had to transfer to Adelaide all fairly straightforward but what a difference in temperature, Sydney was in the mid thirty's and Adelaide 40 and so many more people. The clocks change on arrival in Sydney we gain a couple of hours and another when we fly to Adelaide. We are wondering how we get to our hotel as we haven't booked a car until the 5th and looking up taxi's the cost is about £70 for a 13km ride which seems excessive as our hotel was only £170 for three night. Well the Internet was wrong and on arrival we were told about $30 but it was just $20. The Istay is a block of apartments fine for our short stay, we went out to get some basic provisions stopped at a pub for a drink came back and unpacked and finally went to sleep at about midnight or three our time. Luckily the air conditioning was very quiet because we needed it on all night!

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Photos

Amanda and Rob's Home
Our home for a little while

Wanaka Lake
Stunning scenery

On our way to the airport
Snow!