Heavy Sigh

Alas, our adventure is coming to an end.

As I type this, Jen is trying to consolidate all of our stuff into the bags that we brought for the plane tomorrow.

As you may or may not know, we experienced a moment of horrendous stupidity when we booked the flights and our itinerary tomorrow (and possibly the next day, crossing the International Date Line always makes my brain explode) is thus:

1. Wake up and finish packing
2. Check out of hotel and head to Auckland Airport
3. Fly to Christchurch
4. Get our bags and check into the flight to Auckland
5. Fly to Auckland
6. Fly to Los Angeles
7. Get our bags, go through customs
8. Fly to Detroit

Ah well, at least the flight to Christchurch is only a little over an hour.

We are in a very bitter sweet mood over our leaving NZ. The bitter part has to do partially with the prospect of returning to work on Monday and the inevitable down after something that has been looked forward to for so long as this trip.

There, is, however, also the realization that this trip has actually met all of our expectations and that we have been truly privileged to have been able to travel to this amazing land, see so many breathtaking examples of its natural beauty, and meet some of the people who make this place what it is.

It seems fitting, then, to close with this, a few lines written by Mr. Tolkien, whom the Kiwis have adopted as one of their own:

The Road goes ever on and on
  Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
  And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
  Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
  And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road goes ever on and on
  Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
  Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
  But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
  My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

And with that, I must leave you, as we intend to celebrate our last night in Aotearoa.

Kia Ora.

Pics from Rotorua

I don't have time for a detailed overview of what we did, unfortunately:

Sunday we flew from Christchurch to Rotorua, the most volcanically active area of NZ. That evening we went to Hell's Gate, a hot springs/mud spa:







On Monday we went and hiked through Waimangu Valley, which has a whole lot of geothermal activity. It was raining the entire time and we got quite soggy.









On Tuesday we went to Mt. Tarawera, which is one of the volcanoes which blew during the cataclysmic 1886 eruption in the Rotorua area. We drove most of the way up the mountain in a 4WD vehicle and then walked up to the rim of the crater, down a scree slide into the crater, and back out the other side.









That evening we went to a Maori cultural show/dinner thing called a hangi. The show was quite interesting and the food was very good. The lighting was poor, and there were a lot of other people there, so most of the photos did not turn out all that well. Here are a couple, though:

In Auckland

We just checked into the hotel here in Auckland.

The B&B at which we were staying in Rotorua had no internet access, so we could not relate out stories of fun in the rain in a volcanically active area. If we have time later we will do so.

The laptop is acting odd right now (flashing lines on the screen), and may be dieing, so we may not post more (as looking at the screen is making me a little nauseous). :(