Farewell, New Zealand!

It's hard to believe two months have passed so quickly. New Zealand is even more magnificent than we could have imagined; when we first arrived, we figured we should hit all of the major attractions since we are unlikely to return. But as our trip progressed, that attitude quickly changed to sampling everything so we knew where to spend more time when we returned! Not sure when yet, we will definitely be back!!

Yesterday we were able to squeeze in a bonus ride along a new trail that traverses the width of the top of the North Island. It's 84km long and with our hotel in the middle, we took a shuttle to the eastern end of the trail and made our way back. Our motel neighbours also rode the trail and are biking enthusiasts from south Auckland - turns out our motel was the recommended lodging in our cycle tour book!

We spent yesterday evening doing laundry and packing, with our new friends looking on in astonishment.

Today we drove back to Auckland along the west coast of the North Island, stopping at the magnificent Kauri forest to see Tane Mahuta, New Zealand's largest Kauri tree.

This photo was taken while Neil returned our rental car, but now we are through security and waiting to board. Our flight takes off in an hour or so, and when we arrive in Honolulu we will get to live March 14 a second time! Happy double pi day :)