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| A close up taken by Erin while at the Luge in Rotorua!!! |
| Glenn's Journal 01-22-03 & 01-23-03 New Zealand This morning we are up on time as we have to pack as to prepare for the flight back to Melbourne tomorrow. When you have a car it is amazing how things seem to get thrown into the car loosely instead of being repacked every day. It is time to make everything fit back into our backpacks. No Worries!!! We were all cleaned up and packed for a 10:00 am checkout and departure from the holiday park. We had not booked anything for tonight so that was our first priority of the day. We stopped at information and after a few phone calls reserved at the Brown Kiwi (A thumbs up in our Let's Go guide). We now could relax as we drove back into Auckland so we took the scenic route back. This included following the Twin Coast Discovery highway through Waipu Cove and Mangawhai Heads before finding ourselves back on the 1 motorway to Auckland. We made a few stops along the Twin Coast Discovery highway including a few more stops at the beach. Our favorite stop was Orewa, a little town that we had stopped at on the way to Whangarei. It is a nice little beach town with plenty of activities without the total feel that it is covered with tourists. We parked facing the beach where we ate lunch and enjoyed the views before continuing on. We arrived into Auckland and at the hostel around 2:30 pm where we checked in. We had a few reservations about the place as it did not deserve its "thumbs up" rating. The place was small, the "Japanese ponds" out back were so small they were almost non-existent, and the clerk at the desk was not that pleasant. We took the time to call another place (The Fat Camel, where we stayed at last time) but they were full. Oh well, this would do for one night. We didn't stick around for long but promply headed into town to locate the jewelry shop that we had seen this beautiful, but expensive, 45 carat aquamarine necklace. We made it there just in time and gathered some more details on the piece before the manager closed the shop. After the jewelers we continued shopping as we had not bought much in New Zealand and did not really have a piece that would remind us of New Zealand. Erin came up with a great idea so we found and purchased a wedding reception book and photo frame made out of Rima (a local wood) with some shells in the cover and frame representing two wedding rings. It will definitely be remembered as we fill it with photos and signatures from all of our friends that join us at the wedding and/or reception. After a tough day of shopping we just had to stop at Starbucks for cappucino's. We watched the rush hour crowds trying to get out of town at the end of a long day. Our next stop was the movie theater as it was an overcast day and we had a buy one get one free movie pass. The movie passes didn't work but we saw Two Weeks Notice which was cute and funny. We hope we don't see it on the plane tomorrow!!! After the movie we stopped into the internet cafe and sent some last e-mails from New Zealand before returning to the hostel. We were in bed early tonight as we have a long day of traveling tomorrow. 01-23-03 New Zealand We are up by 8:00 am (our usual time any more) and were showering and packing for the flight. We had bought a few more things yesterday so we had to repack a little so they would fit. No Worries as the master packer is here!!! By 10:00 am we were checking out of the room and waiting on the rental car company to pick up the car. I called them and they said that they would be there later to pick up the car. We walked into Posonby (the town we are staying in) and found breakfast and a bookshop before returning to the hostel to wait for the car rental company and our shuttle to the airport at 1:00 pm. The car rental company showed up just after we did so that was taken are of quickly so now we are waiting for 1:00 pm and the shuttle to arrive. While we are waiting I am typing this journal and Erin is reading magazines. It is a rainy day with the sun trying very hard to show its face. The shuttle picked us up promptly at 1:00 pm and, after picking up a few other passengers, we arrived at the airport at 1:45 pm. We found our way through check-in, paid our departure tax, did some window shopping and were sitting at the gate by 2:30 pm. We stopped at Szabarro's for a light lunch before boarding the plane at 3:45 pm. The flight was uneventful as we enjoyed the movie "The Banger Sisters" and lunch before arriving into Melbourne on time at 6:15 pm. It was a four hour flight but we gained two back due to the time change, again!! Once at Melbourne we made our way through passport verification, gathered our bags, and then proceeded through customs. We were out of the maze within 20 minutes and called Elaine on her mobile phone for a pick up. She arrived only a few minutes later and home we went. Elaine had prepared another wonderful dinner as we shared stories of our adventures from New Zealand. Elaine and John talked about things they were up to since we had been gone. We also called Martin Williams (son of Pauline and Graham Williams, friends of the family from Whale Beach , just north of Sydney whom we will visit with next week) to arrange a time to visit with him on Friday. He is a Vitner at a local Master Wine Makers. We look forward to the visit. I didn't stay up too late tonight as my body clock was still two hours ahead. Erin seemed to manage better than me and found me fast asleep when she arrived to bed after midnight. |
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| The Te Papa Museum in Wellington. |