Every trip has to have an end, and our ending to New Zealand was a good one. Tony tied his last fly at the fly fishing shop, we took a few pics around town, locked up the backpacker’s, said goodbye to my employers at the Settler’s Motel, and headed north to Auckland to sell our van. We arrived Saturday evening in the rain and had dinner and stayed with a “friend of a friend” from back in the states, named Valerie. Thanks to Facebook, we had gotten in touch from a mutual friend, and Valerie was nice enough to let us stay with her and store a few bags at her beautiful apartment for a few days. Sunday morning we were lucky enough to sell our van for almost the price we had paid for it and rented a tiny car to take a trip to visit our dear friend Menis we had met in our sheep shearing adventures. Menis had moved back up to the North Island to an area we had never seen before. We made the 4 hour journey through green rolling hills to Waimana outside of Whakatane.
Sunday night we made ourselves at home in her countryside house and visited with her family. Monday morning we ate breakfast after she finished up her morning work and we set out to see the area her family had lived on for generations. This is a very small community, with lots of dairy farms, hills, bush, and friendly faces. After visiting the little general store and checking out some chickens next door, we headed off with her cousin in a pick up truck up a long and winding dirt road. Every person we saw, we were introduced to and stopped for a visit. We made our way up the mountainside for some amazing views and remote locations we would never had been able to see. The next day we drove over to the coast and had some amazing ocean side views and made our way from Opotiki to Ohope to Whkatane and saw the sites of each town. That afternoon Tony went to the dairy farm and did his best to help Menis and Goldie feed the baby cows.
They were so hungry they tried to eat his jeans, hands, and pretty much anything they could get a hold of. The next morning we said our goodbyes and made our way back to Auckland for our final departure on Thursday. We met up with Valerie and had a delicious Indian lunch and took the ferry from Devenport to the city center so I could buy some last minute gifts. After frantically shopping for a few hours I had finally found some trinkets to bring home and worked up another appetite. We all walked down to the harbor to see the sailboats, but with the wind and rain were picking up we ducked inside to a little burrito shop and had our fill on some much needed Mexican food. The rest of the night we spent repacking and reorganizing our luggage.
Thursday morning we all had breakfast at a cute café and then Tony and I loaded up the tiny car with all our luggage and we said our goodbyes. We did more shopping, ran a few errands, and made our way to the airport. Luckily we arrived about 2.5 hours before our flight, because we had to repack again. Since we did not have a scale, the weight of our bags were not distributed evenly. While I stood my ground on the luggage prices with the attendant, Tony began ripping things out of bags and reorganizing. Apparently with Air New Zealand, it is only $55 for your extra checked bag if you “prebook,” which our flight did not allow due to the Fiji stopover. A month earlier I had called and been given clearance to have the “prebooked” price, which would have been $110 for both of our checked pieces, walk up prices were $240 and I was not going to pay that. After that part was resolved we had to get all 4 checked pieces to 23kg (50lbs or less) and carry ons + personal items to 7kg (15lbs) or less. I put on my snow boots, jacket, jewelry, and extra shirts. We took fishing reels, rocks, shells, boots out of one bag and stuffed and tied them onto the outside of my backpack, which we then stuffed into an oversack, which ripped and we had to safety pin it together. Luckily this airline counter had a scale over to the side and we were not in anyone’s way, but yes we were “those” travelers, the cheap backpackers trying to wear everything they can through security just to shove it back into their carry on bags. This included the $50 of chocolate and cookies that Tony had in his carry-on bag that he would not let anyone handle. My camera bag and laptop could get tossed around, but whatever you do, do not crush those cookies! We did manage to make every bag under the max weight and did not have to pay extra fees, but we literally had to run to make our flight.
If there is anything that I have learned from the trip to New Zealand it has been the goodness of people. So often we just get through our work days, keep your head down on your way home, and start over again the next day. It is amazing the friends you can make and the experiences you can have if you take the time to just smile and strike up a conversation with someone new. We have made some amazing friends, eaten different foods, and opened ourselves up to so many good things. I have truly been awed by the generosity and kindness that people have shown us over the last few months. My goal is to continue to be a friendly, outgoing, and generous person like so many of the Kiwi’s and other travelers have shown me to be. A trip like this really changes your life and I will forever love New Zealand.
