The weather was perfectly beautiful again today--warm and sunny and calm. We spent the day making our way across the South Island, from Mount Cook near the west coast, to Christchurch on the east coast. We had more lovely scenery--snowy mountain peaks; turquoise lakes; rolling, green hills. What a perfect way to end our time of traveling together.
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| Saying goodbye to Riki |
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| Beautiful Lake Tekapo |
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| Lake Tekapo, with Mount Cook and Mount Tasman in the background |
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| Our tour group :-) |
We've met 38 interesting, fun, funny people from New Zealand, Australia, England, Scotland, and the Netherlands. This evening, we had our last dinner together as a group. Tomorrow, some of the travelers begin flying to their homes; more will leave on Sunday; just a few of us are staying until Monday. We're looking forward to going home; we'll arrive there just before midnight on Monday.
John and I realized something today. On this trip, we've seen New Zealand's longest river, highest mountain, biggest city, only castle, biggest and oldest tree, largest lake, wettest region, most photographed building, the salmon capital, longest one- and two-lane bridges, only hanging staircase in the Southern Hemisphere, largest Scottish city in the world, tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere, third windiest city in the world, oldest Twin Screw Steamship in the Southern Hemisphere, most of NZ's 40 million sheep, and most of its one million farm-raised deer.
I was fairly prepared for the gorgeous scenery we'd be seeing in New Zealand. But, I was surprised by how much I loved the Hobbit houses. I was also surprised by how much we like Queenstown. I loved learning about the Maori culture, and the wonderful Maori language and great Maori names for almost everything here. We've been in New Zealand since March 9th; by the time we leave, we will have been here for 23 days. We have travelled approximately 2765 miles; 1,084 miles on the North Island, and 1,680 miles on the South Island.
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