Tomorrow we say goodbye to New Zealand and the lovely Kiwis (people, fruit and birds) and head for Oz. New Zealand has been good to us. It’s a beautiful country to tour, and I imagine one of the easiest places in the world to travel. We’ve been very fortunate to experience the kindness of old and new friends who’ve offered us a place to stay, food, laundry and even hauled us and all our crap around!
We met Michelle, Richard, Griffin & Buckley in Christchurch through the Eugene connection (i.e. Deb & Craig). They’ve just relocated to Christchurch and even before their furniture arrived were open to hosting two complete strangers. They had their own great travel stories to share and also started us on our quest to see Comet McNaught. Unfortunately we never seemed to be anywhere with clear, unobstructed skies, though we did catch a faded glimmer of it near Wellington.
Through yet another friendly connection, we met Dan, Cecile and Andrew and enjoyed the ocean view from their pad in Paikakariki just north of Wellington.
And finally, we caught up with Dave’s friend Sarah from GMU days. Sarah, her hubby Mel, daughter Leah and mum Sue, were great fun. They shared their beautiful corner of the country with us – the Bay of Islands – and gave us a small taste of local life.
I imagine we will miss this easy going, friendly country and its amazing scenery, but not the numerous one bridges and endless switchbacks.