Well, it is a banner day today: JQ has admitted I was right - six weeks would have been too long. (You may or may not recall that JQ and I quibbled - aka "argued" - over how much time to spend on our fantabulous vacation. She'd wanted six weeks, and I had wanted four. Guess who won?) Anyway, as it turns out, a
vacation of two weeks in Australia (minus lost travel days) and two weeks in
New Zealand was just long enough, and we're ready to come home. We fly today!
"Today", however, is a relative term. Our plane doesn't leave until 8:00 p.m., which leaves us with a good portion of the day to find something to do which is not too onerous, as anything we do requires us to cart along all of our belongings with us. Sooo... probably not the best day for a mountain hike or an underwater scuba adventure, right? Right!
Because she islazy smart, JQ pre-arranged a late checkout from the motel today, so we don't have to leave before 2:00 p.m. I have packed up all of my luggage, and brought my Blundstones out of storage. They came along with me to Australia (1) because it was cold in Canada when I left, and (2) they would be good rainy day boots for New Zealand. However, while we did have rainy days in New Zealand, it didn't impact our outdoor activities too much, and so I did not need to wear them. As they are my bulkiest footwear, and as we are returning to the land of snow and ice, it seems like a good life choice to wear them home. And I'm going to wait until we get to the airport before I change into a long-sleeved shirt.
It's hard to believe that our summer is almost over and we will be returning to winter!
As we had extra food and toiletries that we cannot transport home, when we do check out, we give them to the motel owners, to either use or give away as they see fit. We really enjoyed our stay at the Grange Motor Lodge - the room we were in was renovated a year or two ago, so everything is sparkling new and shiny. While it's not in the downtown tourist core, it is a nice quiet area with the grounds decorated with flower gardens, and the owners were lovely people. Plus, we had onsite parking and didn't have to pay downtown parking rates. Bonus! If I return to Auckland, I'd definitely stay there again. 😘 And if YOU go to Auckland, you should stay there too.
Before we left, one of the staff members suggested the Auckland Botanic Gardens as an outing for us, as the gardens are en route to the airport. Perfect! That is now our plan. Goodbye Grange Motor Lodge - hope to see you again one day!
This will be our last day driving on the wrong side of the road - unless JQ gets confused back home and does it by mistake. She seems relatively certain that this is going to happen.
At the Auckland Botanic Gardens, we look at the map and realize that the gardens are too big for us to cover today without triggering JQ's anxiety disorder about airports and traffic and when should we leave, so we'll just wander through part of it. Never mind, JQ, I'm sure we'll have plenty of time.
Google tells me that the Auckland Botanic Gardens are 64 hectares, vs the Sydney Botanical Gardens' 30 hectares. Okaaaay, looks like JQ is right and we won't be able to cover all that ground. But we still have about two hours to wander before she starts nagging me to leave. So let's go for a walk!
In our wanderings, we saw an area dedicated to the "edible garden", some formal gardens, and then a slightly quirky format garden with topiary. Art work and lakes and palm trees and a billion different kinds of flowers. Lovely place to visit.
As we're heading out, I notice that the staff are setting up for an event on the wide open lawns. I will later discover that this is for the Elvis in the Gardens event, which takes place tomorrow. Darn it!! Doesn't matter how long you stay, there's always something exciting happening a day or two after you leave... 🙁
Alas, it is time to go. The Ezi car rental place is set as "Home" on the GPS, so we're driving the Qashqai home (only briefly stopping to fill the tank with gas, because no one wants to pay the penalty charge). Originally, when our trip was still in the planning stages, we'd contemplated renting a campervan of some sort, or maybe one of those cute Jucy rentals. But I must say, I love our little Qashqai - it's a very nice car. Too bad about those Wellington scuff marks on the side...
JQ totally rats me out to the car rental place: "She crashed your car! She ran over old people and there were children bouncing off the hood to the left, right, and center!" That is a 66% falsehood. There are only marks on the left side of the car - I only sideswiped old people and children. That's not the same as running them over, FFS.
Fortunately, because we bought all the insurance, I just have to write up the corner where the car scrape happened, and draw a picture of the bodies bouncing off the hood of the car. No worries, mate - I can do that! It is possibly the worst stickman drawing ever, but whatever.
With that out of the way, it is a mere 5-minute shuttle ride to the airport (and JQ and I silently marvel at how we had to wait 40 minutes to be picked up when we first arrived in Auckland). We're back at the airport well in advance of our flight, so there's plenty of time to wander around, peruse last-minute souvenir options, and hunt for the rare and elusive food that does not upset JQ's precariously balanced nervous system. Have I mentioned that before? Her gastrointestinal woes and her fragile constitution? I feel like it's come up once or twice.
She eventually finds a restaurant to her liking, and buys a salad made of some rare orchid leaves that are served over organic snow peas that have been steamed with triple-distilled mountain water. I buy a burger from McDonald's.
Okay, there's still quite a while before our plane leaves. Well, let's go look at the stores. The ever-present souvenir shops, clothing stores, perfume stores (which I think is weird - do that many people buy perfume these days?), electronic shops, etc. We learn some valuable life lessons on our airport shopping expedition.
LIFE LESSON: While you may covet Joy, you will receive only Poo.
We still have more time before our plane leaves! Let's goof off in this store and record a video! Okay, done. Now what?
JQ stakes out a spot at our Gate and decides to sit down and wait there. I wander off to explore. This is likely a theme that you've seen repeated multiple times throughout this blog - why would it be any different now? Once more unto the breach, dear friends! Soon, our travels will be over, and I will not be able to mock her in my blog, but will have to do it to her face.
As is my way, I scurry and zigzag back and forth through the airport like a mad rodent, looking at everything, and taking pictures of half those things.
All right, now I think I've seen everything. I'm going to head back to JQ and wait at my gate. And I'm going to change into my long-sleeved shirt because it can get chilly on the planes.
Did I mention that we're flying back to Canada via Air New Zealand? We are! We flew Air Canada for the first leg of our trip to Australia, then flew Qantas to New Zealand, and now we're flying Air New Zealand back to Canada. It's a perfect triangle of happiness. The triangulation of happiness, if you will. I don't think that statement makes any kind of mathematical sense, but it makes me happy.
By the way, Qantas' Kangaroo totally kicked Air Canada's butt. We'll see how Air New Zealand does. Stay tuned!
"Today", however, is a relative term. Our plane doesn't leave until 8:00 p.m., which leaves us with a good portion of the day to find something to do which is not too onerous, as anything we do requires us to cart along all of our belongings with us. Sooo... probably not the best day for a mountain hike or an underwater scuba adventure, right? Right!
Because she is
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| It's not winter at the Grange Lodge. |
As we had extra food and toiletries that we cannot transport home, when we do check out, we give them to the motel owners, to either use or give away as they see fit. We really enjoyed our stay at the Grange Motor Lodge - the room we were in was renovated a year or two ago, so everything is sparkling new and shiny. While it's not in the downtown tourist core, it is a nice quiet area with the grounds decorated with flower gardens, and the owners were lovely people. Plus, we had onsite parking and didn't have to pay downtown parking rates. Bonus! If I return to Auckland, I'd definitely stay there again. 😘 And if YOU go to Auckland, you should stay there too.
Before we left, one of the staff members suggested the Auckland Botanic Gardens as an outing for us, as the gardens are en route to the airport. Perfect! That is now our plan. Goodbye Grange Motor Lodge - hope to see you again one day!
This will be our last day driving on the wrong side of the road - unless JQ gets confused back home and does it by mistake. She seems relatively certain that this is going to happen.
At the Auckland Botanic Gardens, we look at the map and realize that the gardens are too big for us to cover today without triggering JQ's anxiety disorder about airports and traffic and when should we leave, so we'll just wander through part of it. Never mind, JQ, I'm sure we'll have plenty of time.
Google tells me that the Auckland Botanic Gardens are 64 hectares, vs the Sydney Botanical Gardens' 30 hectares. Okaaaay, looks like JQ is right and we won't be able to cover all that ground. But we still have about two hours to wander before she starts nagging me to leave. So let's go for a walk!
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As we're heading out, I notice that the staff are setting up for an event on the wide open lawns. I will later discover that this is for the Elvis in the Gardens event, which takes place tomorrow. Darn it!! Doesn't matter how long you stay, there's always something exciting happening a day or two after you leave... 🙁
Alas, it is time to go. The Ezi car rental place is set as "Home" on the GPS, so we're driving the Qashqai home (only briefly stopping to fill the tank with gas, because no one wants to pay the penalty charge). Originally, when our trip was still in the planning stages, we'd contemplated renting a campervan of some sort, or maybe one of those cute Jucy rentals. But I must say, I love our little Qashqai - it's a very nice car. Too bad about those Wellington scuff marks on the side...
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| Most of them didn't leave marks. |
Fortunately, because we bought all the insurance, I just have to write up the corner where the car scrape happened, and draw a picture of the bodies bouncing off the hood of the car. No worries, mate - I can do that! It is possibly the worst stickman drawing ever, but whatever.
With that out of the way, it is a mere 5-minute shuttle ride to the airport (and JQ and I silently marvel at how we had to wait 40 minutes to be picked up when we first arrived in Auckland). We're back at the airport well in advance of our flight, so there's plenty of time to wander around, peruse last-minute souvenir options, and hunt for the rare and elusive food that does not upset JQ's precariously balanced nervous system. Have I mentioned that before? Her gastrointestinal woes and her fragile constitution? I feel like it's come up once or twice.
She eventually finds a restaurant to her liking, and buys a salad made of some rare orchid leaves that are served over organic snow peas that have been steamed with triple-distilled mountain water. I buy a burger from McDonald's.
Okay, there's still quite a while before our plane leaves. Well, let's go look at the stores. The ever-present souvenir shops, clothing stores, perfume stores (which I think is weird - do that many people buy perfume these days?), electronic shops, etc. We learn some valuable life lessons on our airport shopping expedition.
LIFE LESSON: While you may covet Joy, you will receive only Poo.
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We still have more time before our plane leaves! Let's goof off in this store and record a video! Okay, done. Now what?
JQ stakes out a spot at our Gate and decides to sit down and wait there. I wander off to explore. This is likely a theme that you've seen repeated multiple times throughout this blog - why would it be any different now? Once more unto the breach, dear friends! Soon, our travels will be over, and I will not be able to mock her in my blog, but will have to do it to her face.
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| These people are all gone. We're still waiting for our plane. |
All right, now I think I've seen everything. I'm going to head back to JQ and wait at my gate. And I'm going to change into my long-sleeved shirt because it can get chilly on the planes.
Did I mention that we're flying back to Canada via Air New Zealand? We are! We flew Air Canada for the first leg of our trip to Australia, then flew Qantas to New Zealand, and now we're flying Air New Zealand back to Canada. It's a perfect triangle of happiness. The triangulation of happiness, if you will. I don't think that statement makes any kind of mathematical sense, but it makes me happy.
By the way, Qantas' Kangaroo totally kicked Air Canada's butt. We'll see how Air New Zealand does. Stay tuned!
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| Goodbye Auckland International Airport! Goodbye New Zealand! |
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