One last day and then a day: that is two!

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Geo: -36.8474, 174.766

After flying out of Queenstown on a gorgeous early morning, we bid adieu to the South Island and arrived in Auckland before lunch. To comply with New Zealand carry on restrictions of 7 kilos (approx 15lbs), we had to do some juggling of luggage! Wish we had had a map with us to check on the landmarks we flew over. The weather in the N. Island has been rainy, and today was threatening, with just a few drops. We rented a car for one extra day and fit in some shopping, a lovely few hours at Cornwall Park (One Tree Hill), and dinner at a Malaysian/Singapore restaurant. We had to repack everything of course, and tried to get to bed early, which never happens. Didn't sleep much for some reason - awaiting the 4 am alarm I guess.

Flight to Sydney was comfy - had to juggle the bags once again to meet the 10 kilo carry on limit this time as we were in Business class! We hadn't expected that the NZ restrictions would apply to international trips. Fortunately we were able to take the checked bags above 50 lbs ( again thanks to the business class tickets!) It was dark leaving Auckland, so no photos, but the weather cleared enough for us to get a great view of the famous Opera House in Sydney as we bade farewell to Australia.

The flight from there to San Fran was a mere 12.5 hours. Very little sleep, but mighty comfy 😊
We are waiting in the arrivals lounge (shower facilities, smoked salmon bagels - all very nice!) in San Fran for the final flight to Chicago and a visit with Roger & Carole Willer, and then the very final leg on Thursday - the 6+ hour drive home.

And so we wrap up this travel blog - what lies ahead is our open house Saturday and many many hours to "cull" the photos. And maybe turn some special ones into canvas prints. What an adventure - thank you for being interested partners, voyeurs, whatever you were. The process was valuable to us to try to keep up with the notes. Surely these facts will help us identify some of those thousands of photos over the next few months.

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Comments

[cjryman2016]

this is so darn cute! It made me happy!

[cjryman2016]

I love this one too!