Back again; The longest day ever.

When we woke up on the day of Dec 7, it was to be the longest day of our lives. Our flight wasn't until the afternoon, so we had time to do something I really enjoy doing and we hadn't done yet. Go to church! You might think this is a bit weird on vacation, but it is a great way to do something very local and authentic and even get to know some locals. We met a couple very nice people, and would definitely go back to the Presbyterian Church of St. Andrews. It seemed like a very fitting way to cap off our trip.

Presbyterian Church of St. Andrews

After the service, we walked back to Hotel DeBrett, collected our bags, then got on the airport bus.

Bye, Hotel DeBrett, hope we go back someday!

I wish I could say the flight back was as great as the flight to NZ. We had a loooong layover in the Cook Islands, where they made us get off the flight and sit in the hot, humid airport with difficult to get water for several hours, then go back through security to get back on the airplane. We were tired and exhausted and I felt pretty grimy by that point. We finally got back the US and had a super stressful layover at LAX. Mike was stressed out about customs (it was fine) but we got through without any problems and made out Southwest flight back to BWI. When we landed at BWI, it was 11 PM on December 7!

We absolutely loved our honeymoon and are so grateful to the generosity of our friends and family that helped us make our dream a reality! It was an adventure of a lifetime and it was surreal the whole time. We miss it a lot and have even fantasized about moving there. We will always have a special place in our hearts for New Zealand and it will always be an important place in the geography of our lives together.

Auckland

This day was pretty relaxed and we didn't have anything in particular planned- some walking around, some shopping.

We spent a little time furiously finishing the postcards we had been collecting along the road and so we could mail them out before we left. They were in lieu of our Christmas cards that year, and the local post office promised me they would make it all the way back to the States by Christmas. When we got back, Christmas and New Years went by and we didn't hear that anyone had gotten them. Then we figured they were completely lost. Sometime in Feburary we started hearing that they were received in plastic bags with a sticker from Brunei! Yeesh!

We saw a couple interesting things in Auckland.

Some colorful religious event - no idea what it is!

We took a little ferry across the harbor to Devonport and walked around. 

OK, a little more kissy face.

Auckland across the water.

A happy little sailboat.

For our last night in New Zealand, I had planned a little surprise for Mike. He knew he had to get dressed up and he knew it was something nice, but I had him pretty much convinced we were going to have dinner on a boat. NOPE! Guess where we went for dinner?

The Auckland Sky Tower!

I was afraid it would be super cheesy, and it was a little, but Mike loved it and we both had a great time. It was pretty romantic, especially when we went up to the observation deck after dinner.

A clear panel over the city.

Dinner in the revolving restaurant.

Mike loved it.

That was one magical night.

We could see the whole city and beyond, but my favorite view was out over the water.

On our way out, the tower was all dressed up for Christmas!

The last Hobbit movie was due to come out soon!

Kauris - Auckland

We took the long, western way back to Auckland for one very very good reason - the unbelievable Kauri trees. Mike in particular loves trees, and these trees are no ordinary trees.

This doesn't look like much, but it is the largest Kauri stump still around.
Many of the Kauris were cut down for lumber earlier in the 1900's.

For scale.

Tane Mahuta, the oldest Kauri still alive. Possibly 2000 years old!

Tane Mahuta, Sky Father.

Tane Mahuta.

Te Matua Ngahere, one of the largest Kauris.

Te Matua Ngahere.

A cross section of a felled Kauri at the Kauri Museum 

Relative circumferences of some of the now gone Kauris.

The trip down the west coast and back to Auckland took all day. We returned our car and checked in to Hotel DeBrett. Hotel DeBrett was a splurge, but it was so worth it! We actually booked it using our credit card points (the rewards of responsible finances!) so it was basically FREE for us! It is pretty much the coolest and possibly nicest hotel we ever stayed in, and it was awesome to be right in the city center in the middle of everything. It was still quiet enough at night, though. After the sometimes rough places we had stayed in the last few weeks, it was such a luxury to be in such a clean and well appointed suite.

Ahhh...

Don't mind our stuff. I think our hiking boots were STILL damp after the Milford Track!

That was one comfy bed.

Extra long showers? Yup!

This night just HAPPENED to be our second engageaversary, so we went out for dinner after walking around downtown Auckland for a while, but the real celebration was saved for the next night.

Cape Reinga

The next morning, we drove alllll the way up to the tippy top of the entire country to Te Rerenga Wairua, aka Cape Reinga. The Maori presence was far more readily apparent in the North Island, most obvious to the casual observer in place names, which were largely in both Maori and English. It is a beautiful language, though quite difficult for us!

Te Rerenga Wairua is known as the jumping off place for souls going to the next world. Specifically, off a certain pohutukawa tree near the end point of the cape. It was not just warm, but hot and so sunny we got a sunburn in a couple hours - quite the departure from the South Island.

Sunshine!

Cape Reinga lighthouse - can you see the ripples in the water?
This is the place where the Indian Ocean meets the Pacific!

This day was gorgeous!

The path down to the lighthouse.

Sigh.

Options.

The solar powered lighthouse is still in operation.

See that little tree? I think that is "The Jumping Off Point".

The lighthouse and the jumping off point.

We went to a nearby beach for lunch on the way back.

Obligatory toes in the water pic - chilly water.

Yup!

We had a lovely but hilly drive back to Kerikeri for dinner and back to Aroha Island to sleep off the sunburn.

A perfect day in the Poor Knight Islands - Aroha Island

Another adventure awaited us today! We didn't plan this day before we left for our trip, I really wanted to leave some time open to either explore or do something we heard about once we got there. I left the end of the trip a bit more open to give us time to gather some suggestions. One thing we saw was that the Poor Knight Islands were a marine reserve with epic diving. Mike and I have never scuba dived (scuba dove?) before, or even snorkeled, so I wasn't sure there would be much at our level. However, I found Dive! Tutukaka and their "Perfect Day Ocean Cruise".

The cruise consisted of the ride out to the islands, anchoring near the islands for a few hours (we were not allowed to touch the islands due to it being a reserve) wetsuits (the second time in 2 days we had wetsuits on!) and snorkeling gear, stand-up paddle boards, and kayaks. Then, we dried off and puttered around the islands, seeing lots of birds, dolphins out the yazoo, seals, and lots of cool plants and geologic features.

Our boat for the day!

SO glad to be out in the sun!

The big white blob is really sea birds.

There they are!

In a cave.

The acoustics are so good a local band recorded in it!

Poor Knight Islands.

Under an arch.

So cool!

Bye!

We saw sooo many dolphins!

They were so playful.

There were a lot - at least forty, but it was hard to get them all in a pic.

Love them!

Got video, too, but nothing that looks too good.

They were swimming along the boat for quite a while.

Pffft.

After we got back to Tutukaka, we had to get north to Aroha Island, a kiwi and native bird preserve. We were going to stay at the reserve for two nights, and boy, was it worth it!

Not a Kiwi, but there were lots of cools birds on the reserve.

Kiwis are an iconic symbol of New Zealand, but are sadly endangered today, mostly due to small mammals that were brought to the island. They are larger than I thought, about the size of a small chicken - how do I know? We saw one! They are nocturnal and easily scared, so you can go out at night to look for one with a red, not white, light. They give out red plastic to cover your "torches". About 10 minutes after starting out on the little trail around Aroha Island, there was one that walked right in front of us! We saw it poke its long bill into the ground (looking for insects to eat) several times and then just walk off. We held our breaths the entire time so as not to scare it away. There are New Zealanders that have gone their entire lives without seeing a Kiwi, we were so lucky!