New Zealand Day 20

Easy trip down to Auckland today -  only about 150km so we took the scenic route down the coast and again checked out some of their lovely beaches.

Surprise of the day was a great little place called Matakana which is in the middle of nowhere really but has lots of great little cafes and gift shops - and importantly a chocolate factory and shop. Bought a bar of their beautiful 100% cocoa chocolate (sounds terrible but is terrific in small doses!)

Down the freeway system, over the harbour bridge again and out to the airport where we dropped off the car (undamaged) and they drove us back to the jetpack airport motel. Bad news is we get a 3.30am wakeup call to catch the 4.00am shuttle to the airport to catch the 6.25 flight home

Some final observations on our 3 weeks in NZ-

* EVERYONE is so friendly - waitresses, cafe staff, hotel and B&B staff are all on for a chat.
* All roads are twisty. Scenic Route is New Zealand speak for even more twisty.
* petrol prices are ridiculous. 2.50 is normal. Cheapest we found was 2.09 and saw 2.55 A couple of times - gov't has put a 15cent tax on Auckland prices apparently.
* Speaking of governments, PM Jacinta Ardhern is not nearly as popular as our press would have you believe. Most common comment was that she was good for smiling and having babies but not much else. Big news here has been the collapse in business confidence.
* they have the biggest oysters we've ever seen.
* lots and lots of wide bikeways our local and state governments just don't get it.
* you can't pronounce the names of most towns and cities.
* there are lots of old cars but also a ridiculous number of Porsches.
* Aerum lillies grow everywhere - even in rocks!
* very few farm dams - they use all interconnected tanks.
*hardly any restaurants use tablecloths.
*They don't have no through roads in NZ - the signs just say no exit. Saves in signage I suppose but looks a bit funny when you see - Cemetery Road (no exit)

So there you have it - beautiful country with the friendliest people you'll probably ever meet and some quite quirky ways. They definitely talk funny and sometimes even need subtitles - one B&B hostess asked me if we needed any loft. Didn't get it it at first then realised she was asking if we needed milk (low fat)