Today we got up and did the final packing for the trip home. Then we took a little walk around town and down the beach. We were excited about heading home and at the same time sad about leaving beautiful New Zealand, our friends there, and our fellow team members. We're not looking forward to the 11 hour plane ride to LA.
A one man fishing kayak on the Takapuna Beach.
Takapuna Beach
The restaurant at the entrance to the campground (not part of the campground). This started out three years ago as a small coffee shop. Last year it had been enlarged some to include an ice cream bar also. This year it had become a much larger full restaurant plus a walk up carryout. It has become a very successful restaurant and was packed with customers all the time we were there. They also now have Italian Gelato. It appears someone took advantage of an opportunity and has become very successful.
This pretty much completed our 2008 trip. Joan and I left hoping that we might again return again in the future.
As sort of a PS I must add the following. We drove to the KEA depot from the campground which is only about a 15 minute drive and upon arriving at the parking area we met up with the shuttle driver that KEA uses to shuttle people to the airport which is about an hour away on the other side of Auckland. He has taken us to the airport I think for the last three years. When he saw Joan he called her over and said here I have been saving this for you. Joan had apparently lost her Habitat nametag in the taxi last year. She thought that she had lost it at home and had spent some time looking for it before the trip. It's amazing how considerate the New Zealanders are.
The other part of the story about the trip to the airport was that I left my laptop (dumb me) in the KEA in a not real obvious place. By the time that I thought of it we were about halfway to the airport and too late to turn around and still make the plane. The driver called the office on his cell phone butthey had already closed and got no answer. Upon calling the KEA 800 number the person answering said that the facility was closed and security fence locked, etc. and no way that entry could be made to find the laptop and still get it to the airport before the flight. The taxi driver was going back to the depot on the next day (Sunday) and said that he would make sure that it was found and express my desire to have it shipped as soon as possible. Well, I had to live without it for about 2 weeks until it arrived. How depressing it that?
Life continues to be good!
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