Utter bliss. After some serious hard yakka (7 weeks of hoovering every single day), we finally accomplished the final (final, final) housework clean, banished all the animals for a day and stowed the bags in the car for an early departure on Wednesday. Wednesday saw pelting down rain pelting for our departure (situation normal in this uber-green part of NZ). We chucked the dogs in the back of the 4WD and hit the road for a dot on a map that probably doesn’t even merit a dot - but thanks to Google Maps we found it anyway - dropped off the dogs with their loving owners and were driven the rest of the way to Auckland for 4 days in a airport motel

Now that might sound like some peoples’ idea of hell on earth but for us, utter, indescribable bliss. We call these little sojourns our decompression time between housesits - where someone else does our hoovering - drops off clean towels, replenishes the hot drinks selection and would, if we wanted, even make the beds. We spent the first afternoon napping without any screeching, barking or yowling to intrude and the only dinners we had to make were ours - the bliss continued. We spent our evening watching Netflix and even had an actual sleep in. The challenge will be leaving the motel prior to departure day on Sunday. There’s a scenic walk nearby (apparently). But it’s windy and a bit chilly and it’s not going anywhere... turned out, during our first day, neither were we.

Final packing - gone from 2 bags to 4! All those extra Merino wool leggings, jackets and tops and 10 bottles of Kiwi wine... mustn’t forget those.

In the end, Auckland could be forgiven for thinking we weren’t even here. Day 1 (arrival), snoozed. Day 2, got up, pfaffed about, snoozed, then watched Netflix, Day 3, managed an afternoon snooze and a walk around the block - there are literally thousands of campervans in this part of Auckland all waiting to be picked up by people who don’t realise the scenery is down south. Managed some semi-final packing. Thank heavens for a 40kg allowance. We’ve gone from one piece of checked luggage each to two... it’s all those bargain merino long johns, jackets, base layers and, in fairness, 10 bottles of Kiwi wine. Day 4, not only left the motel but actually did something - the Mangere morning markets - huge! Highly enjoyable since we didn’t even know they were on and were just stretching our legs.

Packing progress? 95% - probably 98% really. But the morning stuff is yet to be stowed. Just. Can’t. Wait - only 1 more sleep.

And then we were off! Enjoying the QF lounge in Auckland and getting ready for 17 hours and 50 minutes in the sky... must remember an ‘after’ photo.