The Longest Day of Our Lives
Sunday, March 17 through Sunday, March 17
One more braided river. It's a perfect view to show how appropriate the name is.
This nutritious snack will definitely get me through this day.
It was fun to compare the view to the west with the map in the flight magazine. Here's my view of the tip of the South Island.
How cool is this old volcano? Mary had seen it on the way south, and now I'd gotten a peek on the return journey. Could it be Mount Doom?
The yellow was our flight path towards Auckland. The volcano I could see from the air must be Egmont National Park, which means the volcano is Mount Taranaki. Sadly, I've found no evidence to support our rumor that this is the real Mount Doom.
This is how big Mount Taranaki looked from my window. Amazing! I was trying to figure out the dark area around the cone. Turns out those are the limits of the forest marked out in a circle around the mountain for the national park.
Check it out! Modern airports provide receptacles in the security line to pour out your water. Take note, TSA!
We learned about the delicious Australian goodie TimTam on this trip. Nice of the New Zealand ground crew to pack it on my flight to San Francisco. I hope Mary got one, too.
After watching The Return of the King (closely examining Mount Doom, which sadly did not especially resemble Mt. Taranaki), I dozed a bit to try to reset my internal clock. While my eyes were closed, we crossed the international date line.
5 hours later...(pretend that's the voice from SpongeBob that my kids always quoted. Lay-tairrr).
Although this wasn't a Rick's Steves tour, most of our tour group are dedicated Rick Steves alumni. Lynne suggested we start a travel book club and meet occasionally via Zoom. We're in! This is our first book.
Wait. What?
It's time to say a final goodbye to tour friends and get back to real life.
Time for the longest Sunday we've ever lived.
Which started around 7 a.m. NZ time. After some final hugs with tour friends in the breakfast room, Mary and I joined Colin and Lulu in a van to the airport.
Hotel departure time, Christchurch, New Zealand: 9:30 a.m. Sunday
Actual time in the Eastern US: 4:30 pm Saturday
Yessiree, we were about to travel back in time.
The duty free shop was tempting me to buy some unnecessary liquor. No thanks, Johnny! I'm on a mission for manuka honey and something cool from the All Blacks.
On my first flight from Christchurch back to Auckland, my window seat on the left side of the plane opened up different landscapes that I'd missed on our flight south.
And then the North Island came into view.
While I was taking non-stop blue sky pics out my window, then stopping in Auckland for a short buying spree, Mary was on a direct flight from Christchurch to San Francisco.
Landing in SFO, it was 7 a.m. on Sunday, so I figured: when in Rome... I grabbed a coffee and a muffin. Might as well pretend it was morning. Weirdly, it was the same time I had woken up in Christchurch, New Zealand, also on Sunday, March 17th. Only 19 hours later. Or something. I was already losing track.
Mary and I just had time for a quick rendezvous at our conveniently neighboring gates 12 and 14, and one more goodbye hug as Mary's next flight to Chicago was boarding. Onward and upward!
Nearing the end of my flight to Boston.
After the airport bustle and ground transportation (me driving to Rhode Island) I made it home around 8 p.m. On the same Sunday.
Back on the other side of the planet, in New Zealand, it was 1 p.m. on Monday, March 18th.
I still can't quite wrap my head around that.
After a hang up in O'Hare, Mary made it home, too.
Mary and I are both so thankful we were able to see some of New Zealand, an absolutely fabulous country with a rich cultural heritage and such welcoming people. Kia ora!
- Christine
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