On Saturday 23rd April I departed New Zealand for Australia. I arrived in Sydney around 5.30pm local time (another 2 hour time difference to get used to) where Tom was there to meet me. We have met up for a 12 day whistle stop tour of a bit of Australia.
Tuesday 19th/Friday 22nd April.
Terry and I have covered 4100 kms in 4 weeks on the South Island (+ whatever we drove on the North Island at the beginning of our tour) and seen and done some amazing things over the last weeks, but all good things come to an end and on 19th April we said goodbye and I headed up to the Auckland area again to spend my last few days in New Zealand with Carolyn - the same Carolyn that I spent a week with in Pokeno on arrival in NZ on 19th February. But since my first visit she has moved to Papakura, nearer to both Auckland and her workplace. So the days with her until my departure for Sydney on 23rd April were real 'down time' for me, much needed relaxation after the fabulous but strenuous weeks travelling. On the first evening we met her daughter, Julie, for a meal on the Waterfront in downtown Auckland and, as a surprise for me, Carolyn had arranged secretly with Leigh (Terry's son) that he join us. It was a lovely surprise. Thank you Carolyn, and thank you Leigh for playing along with the idea. We all had a great evening.
As before, Carolyn headed off for work during the mornings but this time arrived home earlier due to the closer proximity. We spend the week either browsing shops, eating takeaway or drinking wine! On Good Friday Carolyn drove me out to the Thames estuary on the Coromandel for a 'tiki tour' and we stopped at Miranda Springs http://www.mirandahotsprings.co.nz/ for a relaxing dip in the naturally hot spring pool. It was great.
Sunday 17th/Monday 18th April.
We drove to Richmond, near Nelson on 17th to Terry's son Aaron's house where Terry is spending the next 6 weeks or so house/dog sitting while Aaron, Jo and the twins visit Ireland. We sadly said goodbye to our trusty Toyota Corolla at Nelson airport when we took Aaron etc for their departure flight during the afternoon.
On Monday 18th we paid a brief visit to Nelson. On the way we called into the WOW Exhibition. http://www.wowcars.co.nz/wearableartgallery. Amazing stuff. Nelson seemed a really nice place but I guess both Terry and I were 'toured out' by then so apart from seeing South Street, we didn't do much else.
Saturday 16th April we drove up to Farewell Spit but visibility was bad and it was pouring with rain so we didn't get to see much.
But at least I can say I was at both the very bottom and very top of the South Island. We left that area after morning coffee and took our time driving back to Shirley and Margaret's stopping for lunch at the lovely seaside town of Kaiteriteri on the way.
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