Day 25 - Auckland

This is our last full day in New Zealand. We took advantage of the slow/quiet morning by sleeping in, then ventured out to see what we could see. For the most part, we just hit City Centre and a few of the major parks. On our way back to the hotel, we picked up sushi and ate it in the walking area near the hotel.

Back in the room, Kate took the opportunity to nap while I blogged. Just after 3PM, we headed down to the waterfront to get picked up by Auckland Sea Kayaks for our Sunset Paddle. There were 12 of us. They drove us to Heliers Bay, got us suited up, gave us a quick lesson (for those who hadn't kayaked before), and we set off. The crossing was nearly 5km. The seas were nearly 2m at some points, so we got a bit wet. This was not a problem as the water was bathtub temperature.

When we landed, they made us tea/coffee, and we had time to read some of the island info while the guides cooked the steaks and pulled out the rest of the food. We the steaks, we had salad, pasta salad, juice, and apples. After eating, we started the nearly 3km walk up Rangitoto Hill, from which we had great views of Auckland and the surrounding area.

We clicked some pics and walked down again. There were some talkative girls in our group who talked all the way up and back down again. We got muffins for dessert before heading back out on the water. It was a bit rainy on the way back, but the silence was golden.

We hopped back into the shuttle buses, and we got dropped off back near our hotel. We got back in time for another moving in our room: Captain Fantastic.

When we got back to wifi, we got the notification that our flight the next day was going to leave at 5:00PM instead of 3:10PM. I wrote to our shuttle service and asked if they could come 2 hours later.

Day 24 - Auckland with Mat

Today we got together with a friend we made on our Peru trip (2 years ago): Mat Walsh. He took the day off (Monday) to spend with us, although he was since burdened with a work meeting in the mid-afternoon.

Mat met us at our hotel at 7:30AM, and (with his permission) we invited our new friend along: Yohan. We all hopped into his new Nissan Dualis and drove out to Mokoroa Falls for a 2.5 hour "tramp" (tracks here). The whole walk was in pretty deep forest, and much of it (time-wise) was spent doing river crossings across the stream there. The crossings varied from a suspension bridge, to tip-toeing across in our boots, to wading through with our trousers rolled up, to taking our trousers off because it was at least thigh deep. We even got to see a 1m long eel in the river (they're not harmful).

Unfortunately, I lost my good sunglasses on this walk. I guess that's not surprising as it took a lot of effort not to fall along this very challenging (and muddy) trail.

On our way back to the city, Mat took us to a brewery/restaurant for a beer/cider. Then he dropped us back at the hotel in lots of time for him to get to his meeting. Yohan and Kate/I went to our respective hotels and rested for the afternoon. We got together again at 5:30PM, out front of our hotel. Yohan was there, and when Mat and Jillian appeared, we all walked up to Food Truck Garage for dinner.

We got to know Mat and Jillian a bit better over dinner. Then we parted ways and the three of us walked another kilometre or so to Joy Ice Cream for cones. We walked a bit more, but decided to say goodbye to Yohan and call it a night.

Kate and I watched Captain Fantastic before bed. A little too Hollywood for us, but it had some good messages. I also sent out yahoo and thank you emails regarding my lost-but-now-found GoPro: the good folks at Trail Journeys emailed to say that they found my camera!

Day 23 - Wellington to Auckland

Here it is: the last day of our 23-day tour.

It didn't start out so well ... I hate to complain, but breakfast was pretty pathetic:

• cereal and milk, but no bowls (I had to go next door for mine)
• jam, marmalade, and toaster, but only white bread
• coffee, tea, but no juice
• no fruit

It was a killer drive: approximately 643 km. I should have stayed up last night so I could sleep on the bus, but I didn't ... so it was a tedious and painful drive for some. (I can't sit in one place for more than an hour without developing terrible lower back pain.) We did stop every hour or two, so it was bearable ... but it was pretty consistently rainy and windy, so the bus bumped and shook the whole way.

We didn't get too much traffic coming into Auckland ... I guess because it is Sunday. We started dropping folks off at their respective hotels/hostels, saying our goodbyes as they went. They had just opened up Queen Street after the Santa Claus parade this afternoon, so Thomas, Kate, and I got dropped off near our respective hotels and we waved goodbye to Sina and Caro as the bus continued on to its final stops past the huge Christmas decorations.

We had arranged one final dinner for the last six members: Thomas, Bianca, Yohan, Emma, Kate, and I. We ate at Vultures' Lane Craft Beer Bar, then said our goodbyes.

This blog will continue for the last three days of our trip: hiking Monday, kayaking Tuesday evening, and flying home on Wednesday.

Day 22 - Christchurch to Wellington

We had to say "goodbye" to half our team today. It was so thoughtful of them to get up to see us off.

Happy first drove us to the Stray lot to quickly check the last bus for my camera: no luck. Then he drove us to Christchurch Airport to pick up our two new team members. This is when we noticed there was no modem on the bus: 8+ hours without Internet! Ouch.

From there, it was approximately 472 km to Picton because of closures on Highway 1 ... but Happy still found time for us to do a wine tasting at Whitehaven Winery. I'm afraid I don't have many other details of today's journey because I slept through most of it (the advantage of staying up late to blog).

There was some sort of mixup with the flight, because Happy left us at Picton Airport with no plane/pilot in sight. Eventually a van came, picked us up, and drove us to the next airport: Blenheim. Apparently this was the result of the strong winds. We all got on a Cessna 208, with one non-Stray passenger ... and a pubescent pilot flew us across to Wellington Airport, with only a few bumps along the way.

We were met at the departures (?!) area by Seagull and his apprentice Mike ... in a Weta tour bus (?!). (It made better sense when we got to the Nomad Hostel and they swapped busses back with our Weta tour guide from two weeks ago.)

Once checked into the hostel, we all had a brief walk up Cuba Street to get cash from the cash machine and walk past the Saturday-night food stalls. We then walked back to Blend for more ribs/burgers/salad and drinks ... just no shooters or dancing this time.

I have never heard the wind like we heard it that night ... apparently it was hitting 110-130 kmh!

Day 21 - Naseby to Christchurch

Today was an extra long driving day.

We drove to the East coast and stopped at the Moeraki Boulders where I grabbed a sandwich. We stopped for lunch at Oamaru and we grabbed some other things to make (and eat) for lunch. We continued on to the Christchurch Airport where we dropped off the two Mexican girls. We then dropped off BC and Ty at their accommodation. The rest of us headed into Christchurch. Happy dropped us off at the YHA Backpackers where we checked in.

It was at this point that I realised I didn't have my GoPro. I checked all my bags thoroughly. I emailed the last accommodation and place we had lunch the previous day, but they both emailed me back shortly after and said they looked but didn't see it. I also reconnected with Happy a bit later, and he said he had checked the bus, but didn't see it. So that means I either put it in with the bicycle helmets, or it was lost/stolen along the way. I'm figuring on the former, so I asked the bicycle operators via Stray Travel and will hope to find out tomorrow.

Kate, Michael, Yohan, and I walked around Hagley Park and down to (what's left of) Christchurch Cathedral. We walked back to the hostel, and connected with a few others in our group for dinner. We struck out on a couple of ideas, but settled on C1 Espresso, a very unique cafe. But it wasn't as simple as that ... we had to find the rest of our group, who were lost a few blocks away. We found them and brought them over, but they didn't like it and decided to eat elsewhere. I think we've been travelling together too long and we're starting to not get along as well.

Oh well, dinner was good, and all the walking around gave us more insight into just how damaged this city is. We went to Micky Finns Irish Pub afterwards, and they had a live band, so we left kinda late.

Internet is good at this hostel, so that's why I stayed up until 4:30AM catching up on blogging.

Day 20 - Queenstown to Naseby

Today was a long one. We met our new driver, Happy. We loaded up and headed down the road, but every time we hit cruising speed, the new bus would make a loud beep until the engine was switched off. After the third time (and a call to head office), Happy figured out it must be the back door. He gave it a shove and that fixed it.

We drove past a ski area and stopped an old mining town called Arrowtown. I was quickly bored with the uber-tourist town and walked along the river a bit (pic below).

We got to Oturehua a bit later to find 21 bikes and helmets for us to ride down part of the Otago Rail Trail. ... from there to Lauder. It went through some amazing pastureland, through two tunnels, and over (at least) one bridge. We rode 23km, mostly downhill, in 1hour17minutes.

There's a great cafe at Lauder called the Stationside Cafe where we bought and ate a hot lunch.

Then we drove to Naseby where we checked into the Royal Hotel. Actually, we didn't all fit there, so three of the guys were checked into a cabin at the local campground, and others went to The Old Doctor's Residence.

A few of us explored the town. It is definitely a ghost town, but I found some amazing trees surrounding the local park, including New Zealand's largest Christmas Tree, and huge trees from North America, China, India, Norway, etc.

For dinner, we all gathered at the Royal Hotel where we were served Shepard's Pie, other than the vegetarians (who got fish), and the glutard (who got quiche).

After dinner, a few of us sat down to a movie: I attached Kate's laptop to their big TV in the breakfast room and we watched Mr. Church that I had brought on hard drive.

Day 19 - Queenstown in the rain

We had booked six bikes for this day, but decided against it when we saw the weather: it was raining pretty hard. So Michael, Kate, and I walked from Reavers around the area called Queenstown Gardens. By the time we got around it, the weather had lightened up a bit, so we (well, I) changed my mind again and we went and got the bikes with Bianca, BC, and Ty. (Thomas was turned off my my mind-changing.)

By the time we were outfitted, it was 11AM and the rain had started again ... but we went out anyway. We headed out past the Queenstown airport, and turned back when we ran out of time: we wanted to get the bikes back in 2 hours, and Michael had a scheduled connection around 1PM. The rain was on and off, but some of the views near the turn-around point made it worthwhile.

BC and Ty were falling behind, so I sent Kate (with the spare tires and tools) and the others ahead while I stayed with those two. Wouldn't you know it ... that's when I got a flat tire. I was able to ride on it for a km or so, but then I had to walk the last 2 km. Not a fun way to finish a ride.

Michael went off to visit his friend, while BC, Ty, Kate, and I went to Devil Burger for lunch (the lineup for Ferg Burgers was nuts). They all went off to shop, so I went back to the room and napped.

For dinner, Kate and I walked to the grocery store and got salad, yogurt, and cider ... and took it back to the room. That, plus soup (bought on the first day) and leftover pizza (from The Cow), made up our dinner. We chatted with others, then headed to bed around 11PM.