I have jumped ahead three days with this entry. The last three days were spent with our family in Auckland doing unstructured things. Scott worked, Jess went to her spinning exercise class early one morning, Isaiah started a new job with a start-up company who plans to make deliveries in the downtown area using electric assisted bicycles and Yvonne and I vegged out a little.  We did go with Jessica to see a couple of homes for sale that interests them, as they are seriously considering buying something instead of paying the high rental fees. We went grocery shopping at their local store and learned they do not refrigerate eggs in New Zealand-no need to because of the way they are processed. We walked down to the beach and watched the world go by.  We went out for an amazing breakfast one morning where the dishes were works of art. And on the day we were to leave Jessica signed us up to go at 6:30 AM to help 25 other volunteers make 2025 sandwiches for school kids who could not afford lunches. And I thought the USA only had children who could not afford lunches. The company who donates these lunches is rather unique. They are in the catering business and for every meal they sell they donate a school lunch (sandwich, apple, snack mix). Since beginning the program they have donated over 700,000 school lunches.

Our return flight to seattle left Auckland at 11:55 PM on April 4, and will land in Seattle on April 4. We regain the day we lost when we came here. The first leg takes us back to Honolulu where we change planes for the flight to Seattle. It actually worked quite well. We boarded, told the staff we were not interested in a meal, donned eye shades and both got 5-6 hours of sleep during the 9 hour flight to Honolulu. There was a 2 hour layover in Honolulu and then a 6 hour flight back to Seattle. We did eat on that flight and also caught another few hours of sleep so when we arrived in Seattle at 10PM local time we were surprisingly awake and alert. It was raining, as expected. We picked up the car, drove to Edmonds in plenty of time to catch the 11:45 PM ferry to Kingston which is only 10 minutes from our home. We arrived safely back at Miller Bay by 1:15 AM. Moral of the story:  if you fly North to South or vice versa, the time zone change is minimal and not as tough on the body. Also leaving late at night helps as you are ready for bed anyway.

Perspective on the trip:

After flying over 15 hours to get to New Zealand, you realize how big this planet really is.

The people of New Zealand are welcoming and friendly.

We still equate life in New Zealand as being like the US in the 1950s- No big box stores, a much better balance between work and home life, small neighborhoods with locally owned stores. It is a more laid back pace of life there. We should be jealous.

Everyone says the South Island of New Zealand is much better than the North Island. We disagree. We both like the North Island more. Of course, the beauty that the South Island offers (oceans beaches, mountains, rain forests,glaciers) reside in our backyard. Don’t get me wrong. We did enjoy what we saw and did but it did not overwhelm us. I guess we are simply lucky to be living where we do.

 

Quote of the day:  “Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world”  Gustave Flaubert