Everything Must Come to a Close...

Wow. I am absolutely overwhelmed at the moment! We're back in Auckland after a whirlwind voyage around the North Island of New Zealand... and it's almost time to go home! I can't believe it... the thought seems completely unreal! We had a pretty major adventure getting around the island, and I'll give you the condensed version, otherwise you'd be here all day!

We left Rotorua early in the morning. Upon departure we learned that the horrid eggy smell was sulfur in the air from all the bubbling mud pits of doom. Here is a photo of one of them:

We also got to check out the really touristy geyser explosion:

And this is a random scenic stop:

Anyways. We had it in our heads that we were travelling down to Wellington, however it didn't quite work out that way! The Magic Bus works on a slightly more structured schedule than we had initially thought, and we wound up getting into the town of Taupo later that day. Fortunately, there was no problem booking us into rooms for the night, or rearranging the other rooms and outings we had booked to fit our initial schedule. Taupo was alright... not a very big city, and there wasn't too much going on!

The next day we got into Wellington... which was one of the major highlights of the trip! We got to go on a Lord of the Rings movie tour, visitng tons of sites and filming locations! It was great fun!!! Here's a photo of us during the tour:

And here is where they filmed the scenes in Rivendale, for those of you who know what that means:

I won't post too many photos from that trip, because Kay posted all the good ones on her blog. I demand that you go and check them out! It will be well worth your time!!!!!

After leaving Wellington, we headed north again, to many different cities, with names I have trouble pronouncing. The easier ones included Napier and Mount Maunganui (or something like that...) arriving in Auckland today! It was an absolutely amazing little trip, and I really loved riding on the Magic Bus. The way our schedule worked out, we overlapped exactly with one driver pretty much the whole way, so we chatted a lot on the long drives! We had so much fun in New Zealand, and one day I'd love to come back with more time and money and check out all of it!

And there you have it! Tomorrow evening we will make our way to the Auckland International Airport and begin our long journey home! I cannot believe it. I've been away from home for four whole months... and I'm definately ready to head back again! When I sit back and think about everything that has happened... it blows my mind. This was an amazing adventure, and I'm kind of sad that it's coming to a close. There are times it feels like I haven't seen Canada in years, and other times when it feels like we only just left! Mostly, we are just so, so happy to be coming home, I can't even begin to describe it to you.

I will see you all very, very soon! I love you!!!!!!!

Ps: I'm coming back from my lone!

~Steph