It was amazing that just a few blocks from their house there were multiple condemned homes and empty lots where the homes had been demolished and yet their immediate area looked like a normal subdivision.
The local pumping station on a bit of a tilt..
A family living in a truck camper while rebuilding their home...
We stopped at a really cool outdoor adventure area for children that had all sorts of climbing, tight rope and zip line challenges. Maggie's grandson was there with his school class as part of their phys ed program. What an outstanding facility!
We went through some wetlands on our way to the beach.
A nice fine sand beach.
We returned to their house in time for a quick lunch before driving to the airport. How nice to have some local Kiwi's to welcome us into their home and spent the time to give us a resident's view of the area. Here we are in their beautiful back yard.
We returned the little Tiida after 6,450 km. The airport check in went very smoothly but we had a bit of a wait as our plane was about an hour late in arriving from its previous destination. The Christchurch airport is very modern and well organized.
It was a bit sad to leave NZ although we were looking forward to our next leg of the journey to Australia. It would have been really sad if we were heading home. Six weeks is barely enough time to scratch the surface of this beautiful and interesting country!
This is the last post for the New Zealand blog. I have enjoyed putting it together every evening. More fun than watching the four channels of NZ TV. You will be able to follow our Australian tour at http://aussieadventure2015.blogspot.com The posts should start in a day or so.
A great travelogue with excellent photographs. I am looking forward to the second leg of your journey.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting all this.
Mark