Last Day in NZ

        The last of our pictures bring us fond memories of our dear friends we left behind in Whangarei and they remind me of how much fun we always manage to have with our cruising friends we met long ago in El Salvador, but how sad it is when we say good-bye, never knowing whether or not we will see each other again. The good thing is that usually we do meet up again eventually, so I do hope that we will see Steve and Derusha from Scream in Fiji, and we will see Amanda and Brian on Clara Catherine somewhere. They are both trying to get jobs in New Zealand but, so far, they have been put on hold. I wish them the best of luck.  

        The first few pictures are of the six of us hiking to some glow-worm caves and it was a hoot. Glow-worms are bugs that send out long tenicles which catch flying bugs inside the caves.They glow in the dark, appearing like shining stars in the black night. We walked among huge old gnarly mossy trees, interesting rocks and climbed into the caves. It was great fun.

         Our last campsite had some great little waves and the stand-up paddle boarders were out. We were very happy to catch a brief bit of sunshine in the afternoon and celebrated our last night in our psychedelic hippy van. Today, our last day in New Zealand, was partly sunny and we wandered the city streets of Auckland. The university is beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed wandering the campus. This evening is the very special wedding in Britain and I am sure most New Zealanders are watching on TV with enthusiasm; they do love those Brits!  We are watching it on our very own flat screen in our comfy hotel room;  ah....... a real bed as well! Off to Fiji we go tomorrow. Bye for now. 

From Park Albert on the edge of the campus, the needle stretched high into the sky. We did contemplate going up, but the expense deterred us, so we just admired this feat of architecture. The view must be fabulous from up there!  David did try to convince me to go up there with him tonight for a festive last night dinner and celebration; I do love that very special guy of mine!  New Zealand, thank you.