Good morning from Singapore. We arrived last night after a ten hour flight from Auckland. It will be a brief stop - just a chance to break up the trip and adjust to new time zones as we head to Delhi tomorrow morning. Our final week in New Zealand was fantastic. Auckland is a lovely city. It has a population of about a million and is quite spread out along the many bays on the coast so there are plenty of water views. There are also many extinct volcanoes on which the city is built so it's quite hilly. We stayed in a 'bach' (vacation rental) in one of the lovely, older neighborhoods called Parnell. It was a 20 minute walk to the city centre so very convenient. Besides touring the city we took a ferry over to Rangitoto Island, a dormant volcano that has been preserved as a natural area, and hiked to see the crater. There was a fantastic view of the Auckland skyline from the top. We certainly did our share of hiking in New Zealand - hopefully enough to offset the great local wines and ice cream we enjoyed!

In the past week we also spent three days in the area known as The Bay of Islands. The 'Bay', north of Auckland, is well worth the trip. There are 144 islands in the area and the scenery is spectacular! The 'Bach' we had in this area had a tremendous view over one of the tranquil bays. We explored the area on foot, in a kayak and also enjoyed a day sailing the islands on a tall ship. The tall ship is run by a local charity/trust and they host educational programs during the 'low tourist season' so it was a great program to enjoy and support. Rob helped hoist the sails and climbed the main sail rigging. I was content to relax, enjoy the scones and cream (yes they did serve them) and then go for a swim in one of the bays. The water was amazingly clear - a little cool but so clean and refreshing I couldn't resist. Certainly a day to remember!

New Zealand's traditional/Maori name is Aotearoa which means 'long white cloud'. While we had a couple of days with showers during our visit we were truly blessed with good weather and not too many long white clouds! We just seemed to be in the right place at the right time. This added to our enjoyment of that beautiful country making it even harder to say farewell. We both felt it would be another great spot for a holiday home - just a tad far to go for a weekend! We've added a few photos to the North Island album so check them out and decide for yourself. During our last few days in New Zealand we also focused on restocking supplies, doing laundry, etc. so that we are as prepared for our next major stop, India, as possible. Many people have said that it's hard to prepare mentally for India but we are at least as physically prepared as possible. We go with an open mind and a knowledge that we may need 'to chill' on a few occasions. That said, we may not update our blog as often as in the past but not to worry - it will likely just be because time, wireless access and motivation to write don't align. We'll update when we can so stay tuned.