Blasting down the North Island

Back to the present time............

After leaving work, our friends, and our little flat in Beachlands, we packed up 'wee midge' and set off to my Aunt Janette's for a week in Whangarei. The hardest thing about leaving New Zealand will be leaving Janette and Alistair. We thought we would be here for a long time to come, never thinking after only a year we would have to go back. We had a great week up at theirs, but when it came to saying good bye I was a mess. I just couldn't stop crying, and even days later I'm trying not to think about it or else I'll just start crying again. No matter what happens with our future New Zealand plans, I know I will definitely be back out here to visit them, even if it's just for a holiday.

So on to the whirlwind tour down the North Island. We managed to get from Whangarei down to Wellington in two days to catch the ferry to Picton, not bad going.

Our crossing was a lot less dramatic than last time, it was like crossing a mill pond. We want to spend our last weeks here in the South Island re-visiting our favourite spots from the first time around. I've decided to think of it as a holiday, rather than a final blast before returning to the UK.

One really cool sight on our way down to the South was Mount Ngauruhoe covered in snow at Tongariro. Only a few weeks ago I was there with Scott. We had crampons and ice axes at the time, not needing to use them, but they would definitely be needed now. It would make it so much harder to walk, and I probably wouldn't get as far, but I kinda wish I could have experienced it in the snow.