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NZ- our last day
Today is Monday 30th & our last day in New Zealand. We fly out at 0800 tomorrow morning......which means a wake up call at 0445 & the shuttle at 0530.....uuuggghhh- that will be ugly. BUT, on the upside, we have a 4 ½ hour flight back so can sleep on the way.
Yesterday we challenged ourselves to catch the bus & head into the city centre.....armed with maps & the advice in a tourist book to buy a day link ticket- cost $10 each & you could get off & on any bus service all day- good value. They charge per ‘section’ normally, which they possibly do at home too, but I never use the bus. So a short walk & we were on our way about 10am. The driver was very helpful & told us where to get off (very nicely). We walked passed Sky Tower & looked up at it....didn’t bother doing the tour as I would have had to do it on my own (Raymond doesn’t do heights), & I was on a mission. I had read about the markets that were at Victoria Park everyday. I had visions of the Victoria St markets in Melbourne....WRONG! There were maybe a couple of dozen shops, which is rather tragic, but I did manage to get a couple of bargains & yep, I luuuurve bargains. We then walked over to the quay & had a nice coffee before heading back to Queen St (might be the main st, or certainly close to it). I’m not sure if I mentioned it earlier on, but NZ has the highest, per capita, boat ownership, I think in the southern hemisphere, but I could be wrong there. Any road, there are a truck load of boats & serious money everywhere you look.
Back to Queen St. I still had a bit of souvenir shopping to do....isn’t there always.....& again was proud of my purchases. I actually got one of the Asian shop owners to match the 20% discount being offered by another shop further down which didn’t have the brooch I wanted. She wasn’t all that happy about it, but I know they are still making plenty of money, so don’t feel bad about it. The city streets are very up & down/hilly. Certainly a good workout when you have been sitting for too many days & driving heaps. BY 2pm, Raymond had had enough (& so had I, but don’t tell him that), so we found our bus & headed back to the Avondale Motor Park. The park is very nice & clean...tucked away behind a house as a couple have been. The washing was only $2/load & you didn’t have to pay for showers- bonus!
This morning we had a casual start, emptied out the grey & black water etc & headed for the camper rental return depot near the airport. The instructions had a gap (yep the scenic route again) but, we spied a copper issuing a ticket to a motorist, so I jumped out & went back & asked him for instructions! I think I scared him when I knocked on his window. But we were quickly back on track & found the depot without incident. We then spent an hour or so packing (don’t like packing) & then handed over the van for inspection, which we passed with flying colours- of course! We had had some issues along the way (including a bloody mouse or something that climbed on board when we got into Auckland, & I had to listen to half the night....aaarrggghhhhh), as well as the TV not working (they did come over Sat & try & fix, but couldn’t), so they gave us a ½ day refund on our rental. Better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick.
They then drove us over to the Jet Park Motel where we are whiling away our last few hours- me doing this & Raymond watching the golf (like watching paint dry really...). We are going down to the restaurant for a big farewell dinner tonight & then off & away tomorrow.
In total, we have driven 3,975kms in 27 days...which is nearly 1,000km/week, or average of 144 km/day...given some days we didn’t drive at all (I think we had 7 times where we stayed 2 days in the one place & didn’t drive at all). If you work out that we drove for 20 days, we averaged almost 200km/day). In the end we drove from Christchurch (which is still getting aftershocks), as far south as Queenstown, & as far east as Akaroa, over to Haas & the west coast, back inland at Greymouth & over to Kaikoura (yep still smarting), up to Blenheim, back over to the east coast & Nelson & further east to Upper Mutrie. Back to Picton, over that bloody water to Wellington, east thru the horrid mountain range to Carterton, north to Hawkes Bay (or Bay View), inland to Rotorua, west to Port Waikato, inland through Auckland & n/w to Matakohe, up the coast through the Kauri forest to Ahiphara. Then right to the northern most tip- Cape Reinga. Back s/e to the Bay of Islands & Paihai, south west to Muriwai Beach & back into Auckland, Not too shabby for 2 people who have never been out of Australia before!!
So, highlights. For me- definitely the heli ride & drop onto Franz Josef Glacier- absolutey amazing! The colours have to be seen to be believed. Loved the dolphin trip at Akaroa, hiking onto Fox Glacier, driving through the ever changing landscape....especially when we found some flat pieces of ground! Seeing snow (mostly in the distance), making it to the northern tip, the Paui shell factory at Carterton & the people! Rays highlights are the dolphin cruise at Akaroa, hiking on Fox Glacier....he needs to think about it a bit more...
It would be remiss of us not to mention how friendly the people are here. There have been 2 instances in the 4 weeks where some-one was a bit below average. The guy that collected us from our motel when we arrived & took us to the motor home company was having a bad hair day, & the yuppie that tooted me (whom I returned the gesture with a wave) in his Toorak tractor because we couldn’t get off the road on our way into Muruwai Beach. Everyone else has been fantastic- in shops, parks, super markets, the policeman , walking around. They are very friendly, very helpful & even the young folk are respectful! You couldn’t ask for more. We have come across a couple of gems (the park owner at Port Waikato & the couple park sitting at Muruwai Beach to name 2) & they have all added significantly to our fantastic experience.
I have to say that I will never take for granted our lovely long flat roads again- I wasn’t made to be a mountain goat. However, the experience has been good & the landscape is just beautiful. Autumn has been a wonderful time to travel- the colours are fantastic & we have seen snow. Even though it rained, there were bonus’ to be had from that- the waterfalls were so much better & the clouds add to photography. The best part is that there aren’t thousands of other people around. When you see photos of how busy the roads & parks are etc- eeewwww- wouldn’t want to be a part of that! The south island is a bit busier than the north, the road signage is better in the north. The roads are great nearly everywhere, the really bad experiences (the Rimutukas) make you glad you don’t have to do it everyday. We have become camper home converts- they are fantastic! Won’t be selling the van just yet, but c/h are great. Found that we actually had a gas heater (someone said it was for the shower when I pointed it out.....), also got some good pointers if we were ever to go into caravan park ownership.
I guess that is about it. Would we go o/s again- definitely! Would I recommend New Zealand & motor homes- definitely! Will we have to save for a looong time before we do it again- definitely!! I hope you have enjoyed our blog & no doubt, some-time soon, I will be wanting to bore you with a picture show....I think I have over 1,000 photos! No surprise there. So, beware if I call- you may be in for a long haul pretending to be interested in my photos.
Take care all
Lots of love
Ray & Terri xoxoxoxo
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Jan O
non-member comment
How much I enjoyed your holiday!
This is a sad day!! No more Terri and ray's holiday antics to read about...damn! I found your blog completely by accident and have been an avid daily reader for the last week. Thankyou for your descriptive and hilarious commentary Terri. You and I are so alike I found myself thinking it was ME writing the blog....we tend to say the same sort of thing all the time ha ha. My other half and myself want to holiday in NZ and your observations have been just what we needed to read in order to go ahead and do it!....one day. Hope the flight back is/was relaxing...Regards, Jan O