We left Australia on Wed evening, and didn’t get in to Auckland until about midnight. Then we had a long wait in the customs line, and didn’t get out of the airport until after 1 am. We had just a few hours of sleep at the hotel, then went to pick up our rental car. It’s a bit bigger than the one we had in AU, but it shakes a lot and smells a bit. Oh well. At least we got to sleep a lot last night.

We are very happy to be back in NZ. Australia had some things we really liked (some beautiful beaches and this reef thing), but over all, we didn’t like it near as much. It was much hotter, for one thing. Also, there were no sheep that we saw, and they had some of the biggest, strangest, and most frightening bugs ever.

Now we are up in a town called Whangarei, on the east coast of Northland, the peninsula north of Auckland. We are heading up tomorrow to the Bay of Islands, hopefully to do some kayaking or snorkelling. Then we head back down to Auckland, and our flight back to the US. I can’t believe this trip is almost over. We’ve been travelling for so long, it’s going to be strange to finally stop. We are both looking forward to some rest, but we will also miss this place.