Final details about the NZ trip

Thanks for sticking it out to the bitter end on this trip that ended a week ago! I'll write about the final details and then move on to current day life.

That final Saturday in Christchurch, Rich and I attended his friend Luke's wedding to Bronwyn. It was at their house, with their two kids, and families around. It was a small wedding, but truly beautiful. It was fun too. We got to talk to people who live and work in NZ and ask silly questions about life there. It was a really good time.

The next day (Easter Sunday), we went back to Luke and Bronwyn's to eat breakfast and watch them open presents. It was really nice to hang out during a quieter day. We then got on a plane and flew to Auckland. Our luggage made it with us.

Once in Auckland, we picked up our rental car and drove to some other friends of Rich's, Tony and Jane. They live in Helensville, which is north of Auckland. They have a great piece of property with dogs, cats, pigs, and chickens. We had a great lamb dinner with their entire family and talked to the wee hours of the morning.

After sleeping in, we trekked around Auckland on Easter Monday. Remember that not everything was open due to it being a holiday. If only we could adopt a four-day weekend in the US to celebrate Easter. It was great from that persective. I found more yarn to buy. And we went up the skytower. The views were incredible.

I met a young German woman who was on her last days of vacation before moving to Heidelberg to become a midwife. She was fascinating to talk to.

We spent our final supper together at a nice Italian place, picked up some ice cream and headed back to the Hilton to pack and have dessert (ice cream with fresh blackberries). It was bittersweet. We had a great trip and now it was at an end.

We got up very early (4am) and drove to the airport. Rich and I flew to Sydney together. He rented a car so he could show me a yarn shop (closed) and went on to the Opera House (incredible--photos don't do it justice) and the Harbor Bridge. I tried to enjoy myself, but I was incredibly sad that I was now heading north and he was heading back to NZ for almost four weeks. I'm still sad to be apart.



I got on my plane (after purchasing new luggage in the airport to carry my yarn--seriously just yarn and a pair of shoes). Luckily it wasn't full so I had three seats to stretch out on. The flight was horribly turbulent, so not much sleep to be had. I got to San Francisco and with Rich's status on United (he's a FREQUENT flyer), was able to catch an earlier flight back to Portland.

I made it home, unpacked, wandered around (20 hour time difference) until I fell asleep. Wednesday was zombie day. And now we are back to today.

Thanks for a great trip Rich. Love you.