Sad farewell to NZ

Our time in New Zealand is about to come to an end.  We have spent the last couple of days in Auckland - returned our beloved Fran the CamperVan yesterday morning then explored the city extensively in search of an Easter church service (found several already nearly over - they are early birds here - as well as Salvation Army, Korean Church, Mormons, one that had been turned into an art gallery, and when eventually we decided to stop at the Catholics found dozens of people already standing outside the door so couldn't see or hear much).  Anyway, it was a pretty comprehensive introduction to the city, and after lunch at the Sky City Tower we checked into our cheap and cheerful hotel and put feet up for a bit.  In the evening we headed out in search of a pub showing rugby as there was a match but nowhere to be found to view it.  Very disappointing, but another long walk eventually brought us, via a film at cinema, to the harbour front where a few people were still around (everyone else having left town for the holiday weekend it seemed) and enjoyed the city lights from a cafe on the wharf.  Today it has been raining non-stop, although it's warm and sticky, so the extent of our efforts has not been great - fabulous brunch in a wee local cafe and a bit of time in the laundrette!  Were hoping for some theatre tonight but it is Anzac Day here (equivalent of Remembrance Day but public holiday too) as well as Easter Monday so not much going on at all.  Am sure we'll come up with something though!  Tomorrow we're off on the afternoon flight to Santiago, but hoping to fit in a visit to Auckland Art Gallery beforehand.  So next update will be from South America.  We are sad to be leaving NZ after a fabulous 7 weeks and have put together a quick factfile of the visit...

Days in NZ: 48 (44 in campervan - and we were still sad to be handing it back, good news for the marriage!)
Visitors to the van: 1 (plus briefly joined by 1 hitch-hiker on another occasion)
Distance travelled: 7,250km (lots of hairpin bends and one-lane bridges, wasn't counting)
Tyre changes: 2
Top of the music playlist: Paolo Nutini, Jamie Lidell
Favourite DVD viewed: Elizabeth (the sequel)
Roadkill: several possums (narrowly avoided a number of hedgehogs)
Favourite place: Bay of Islands, Abel Tasman, Lake Tekapo
Least favourite place: Kaikoura (C), Wellington (T)
Favourite tramp: Tongariro Crossing, Mt John (C); Routeburn Track, Mt Somers (T)
Favourite activities: tramping, surfing, tin whistle playing (T); hot springs, sea swimming, driving Fran (C)
Favourite van meal: tortillas (T); most of them - risotto, pancakes,  beans on toast, carbonara, etc. (C)
Favourite ice cream: brand Kapiti, flavour Hokey Pokey (little bits of honeycomb in vanilla ice cream)
Surprising NZ fact: 80% of power is hydro generated, and no indigenous mammals (T); NZ is not crammed with sheep, there's now lots of dairy farming (C)
Favourite winery: Omata Estate (T); Cloudy Bay (C)
Favourite beer: Mac's Gold (T); none of them (C)
Favourite flora: kauri tree (T); cabbage tree (C)
Favourite fauna: dolphins (T); sheep (C)
Biggest disappointment: not seeing a kiwi (bird, not person...have seen plenty of them...)

Oh yes, and I promised a video clip of Tom's sand dune surfing...here you go, enjoy...