No, not Auckland! End of an odyssey!

I don't have anything against Auckland, it's just that reaching Auckland meant that our time in New Zealand was nearly over. The last few days were more low key, with the Cave Experience in Waitomo being our last thrill seeking experience in the land of the long white cloud. After that it was a choice of either the Bay of Islands or the Coromandel peninsula, and we opted for the latter given the shorter drive.

It was a very winding road though! So, it was slow going the whole way round. We made it to Hot Water Beach, which sits over a hot spring. For an hour either side of low tide, you can dig a hole on the beach and the water that comes up from below is hot! Except we just couldn't find the right spot! Ciaran dug two big holes before he gave up and we sat in our pool of lukewarm water. It was fine though, it was a hot day!

That night in Thames we had the biggest mussels we've ever seen! I am really going to miss the sea food.

Auckland is a pretty cool city. One lesson we learned is to book ahead. All the hostels we wanted to stay in were fully booked. We found one on Ponsonby Road though, which has a great view of the city skyline.

After driving over the city bridge, we dropped Donnie back. SAD TIMES!! We've had an amazing adventure with Donnie. Despite his inability to go up hills in 3rd gear, and embarrassing attempts at overtaking other vehicles, it has been an incredible 5000km.

Our last day was spent on Waiheke Island. It's about an hour's ferry to get there from Auckland and then there are a couple of buses that ferry you around. We made it to a few vineyards for some wine tasting and a big platter for lunch, non nom! No free tasting here but the vineyards are fancy and it was worth it for a brilliant last day in NZ.

Then there was just time for a couple of drinks on the Ponsonby Road. I wish we'd had a bit more time here but then I wish we had more time in NZ altogether!

You might get a postcard as we finally managed to post them before we got the shuttle to the airport.

And I am going to try not to cry when our plane takes off.

New Zealand, I love you!!!