We had an early morning flight to Sydney where we caught our flight home after a 2 hour layover. It is bittersweet. I miss everyone at home but at the same time I think I'm leaving a little piece of me in Australia and NZ.  Things I learned in New Zealand:The name New Zealand comes from the Dutch "Nieuw Zeeland" meaning New Sealand, due to the numerous seals on the islands.The sun shines on NZ before anywhere else.NZ is small and thinly populated but the ...

We have one more night in Christchurch before heading home. We awoke to a beautiful sunny day. It was a nice way to end our mega vacation. We had arranged for a group picture this morning before everyone goes their separate ways. It was teary (mostly on my part) but we got through it. I'm glad that part is over with. I feel like I've cried a lot during our group goodbyes. Devastated by an earthquake in 2011, the South Islands largest city has undergone ...

We awoke to a cold, rainy day and headed to Christchurch, a little piece of England in New Zealand, still recovering from a devastating earthquake on Valentines Day of this year. It hadn't fully recovered from the 2011 earthquakes. Of course, along the way we had several stops. First was at Lake Tekapo where we saw again the beautiful blue waters of the hydroelectric power holding lakes. This colour so from the glaciers grinding the rocks into Rick powder w...

Hey y'all - you are still out there! Thanks for the comments. Good to hear from you! We had another travel day from Queensland through the centre of the South Island to the town of Twizel. . It wasn't too bad though. We travelled the Lindis Pass, the main inland link, which climbs through rocky gorges before reaching the tussock-covered hills. Tussock is that hay like grass you see on the hills.  We stopped at Lake Pukaki, in Mackenzie County, that g...

We made our way, at 5:00 am, to Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound and went on the Milford Mariner, our boat for the 3 hour cruise. Along the the way we stopped for scenic lookouts and toilet breaks to break up the 5 hour bus ride. Fiordland National Park is NZ's most remote wilderness and features 14 fiords and 2 "Great Walks" - the Milford and Kepler Tracks. We didn't have time to do either. The route through Fiordland to the sea is world-reno...