BTDU

Today, with a mixture of heavy hearts and excitement about our next stage, we said goodbye to Australia. Julie and I were on a 7.55 am flight to Wellington whilst C&M got to experience more of Sydney as their flight for a 2 day jaunt to Auckland left at 18.20.

Rising at 4.45 we could already see clear blue skies and felt definite warmth in the air😎

Our host Teresa had kindly offered to take us to the Airport at 5.30 and the mercury was definitely rising!

Our flight out of Sydney gave us another chance to see where we had been sailing the day before and we got the perfect in flight entertainment as we approached the land of the All Blacks🏉😉

On landing we were greeted by our dear friends Fiona, a Kiwi, and Deryk, formerly from Kirknewton🇳🇿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

We were then treated to a wee tour of this most beautiful of capital cities with it’s steep, twisting gorges, eclectic vegetation, fascinating architecture and it’s own beaches – what’s not to like!

On returning to Fiona and Deryk’s classical NZ home we met up with their daughters Lucy and Emily (plus her boyfriend.. Hamish 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😉) where we treated to a superb BBQ

Meantime C&M had travelled across to Manly Beach via bus, train and ferry for their iconic Aussie experience 😎

Finally, with some sense of relief, we got confirmation they had indeed made their flight and landed in Auckland – The City of Sails 😎⛵at 11.30 pm

And so Stage 2 of our adventure has officially now begun🇳🇿