New Zealand and Australia – Page 14 – Following Joyce & Paul's Travels in Retirement

Friday was a day where we drove in and out of rain, but more sunny periods.

It’s interesting driving through all these small towns. Rather than having picnic areas along the highway in the countryside, most towns have a sign directing you to public toilets. There also may or may not be a park associated with them.

All too soon we were back to Auckland. Our hotel was about 15 minutes from the airport. It was raining hard when we arrived. Fortunately they had a covered area we could pull in to where we could unload. We emptied the car so we could repack for our flight on Saturday. Lots of challenges trying to even out the two suitcases and two day packs to be within the tighter guidelines flying domestic with Air New Zealand. We came in just under the threshold!

Thursday we said goodbye to Wellington and headed north. We did see the overhead wires for an electric train. However from my reading, there isn’t great train service in New Zealand except to the main towns. Even then, much of the travel is by air between the major centres, except for the ferry which crosses from North to South Island at Wellington.

It rained much of the day so pictures were more challenging. Paul remarked we drove through areas that reminded him of Southern Ontario, Northern Ontario and then an area that was drier and more like Arizona.