The End of Our Kiwi Era

Well, our packing went as well as we could have hoped, although it was still not fun and we ended up having to ship some goodies home when we ran out of baggage space. With everything we sold though (bikes, kayaks, surfboards), everything we donated to the Sallies (almost all of our clothes), and the stuff sent home with visitors (skiis and books), we were able to fit everything into two suitcases and two backpacks. They were even under the max weight limit! We got everything finished with a few minutes to spare but still had not sold our car, Shaggy! So, we bribed our good friend Emma to drive us to the airport and then to sell our car for us. So, she handed us over to customs and we handed Shaggy over to Emma, and we were off to Auckland.

We spent our first day in Auckland wandering around the city, seeing the sights, and enjoying some yummy gelato.


Auckland Skyline

The next day was New Year's Eve, we went on a yacht ride on the harbour and even got to play captain! This was really a cool thing to do as Auckland is the City of Sails, and is known for its yachting community.


Captain Katie


New Zealand's America's Cup Yacht Takes us Over!

It was a great ride and a fun way to spend the day. That night, we took the ferry over to Devonport for dinner and New Year's festivities. We dined at a tasty Greek restaurant, partied with the locals for a bit at the nearby irish pub, and the hiked up the Mt Victoria (a volcano) to watch the fireworks across the harbour. The show was amazing, and it was fun to watch from such a unique vantage point. From the volcano's peak, we could see the fireworks perfectly with the Auckland skyline in the background while enjoying some champagne (much tastier than last year's!). After the display, we ferried back to the city and to our hotel.


New Years 2009/2010 on the Volcano. Who knew volcanos had grass?

The next morning, we took another ferry to Waiheke Island to enjoy the sun and beach. We hung out by the beach for awhile, had a nice lunch at a little cafe, and walked around town. On our trek back to the ferry, the hot sun forced us to stop for ice cream.


Last Day in the Zizzle

Auckland Pics

We arrived back at our hotel and got everything organized for our exit from NZ. We enjoyed our few days in Auckland but couldn't help but feeling pretty sad to be leaving the country and excited to see our friends and family at the same time. Having Hawaii to look forward to definitely helped dull the pain though! All of our flights worked out perfectly and we arrived back in the States with no problems.