Day 14 - continued -
We then went into the back country, on a single-lane gravel road with a few very narrow turnouts to allow for passing. It was kind of strange to see the brown, after so much green for two weeks. New Zealand is truly a diverse country!
I couldn’t believe how quickly this bus was traveling on such a narrow road! It was coming back from dropping people off for a rafting adventure at the bottom of this valley.
Here we can see where the mountain was cut through to make the road deep down into this valley.
And, a final panorama of beautiful New Zealand and the Queenstown area.
When I got back to the hotel, it was time to collect my luggage and board the van to head to the airport; there were six of us on this van, including AbD guide Kira. Since the next AbD was not until mid-December, over a month away, she was heading home as well.
Our flight to Auckland was delayed a bit, but we had enough of a cushion between flights that we had time to make the walk (not run) to the international terminal. Since this is late spring, there were not yet a lot of travelers, so we had an easy time through the immigration and security to get to our flight with little wait. And, as I mentioned at the start of this thread, there’s a wonderful Whittakers Chocolate shop in the airport, which has every type of item they sell, perfect for picking up some chocolate to take home. After security in Auckland is also the place to hit the duty free shops and pick up the Manuka honey, if you don’t want to pack it or have it confiscated (as honey is considered a liquid).
My non-stop flight to LA was long but uneventful, and since LA was my last stop, I didn’t have to go through transit customs & luggage transfer. It was good to be home, but I could have stayed longer, as New Zealand is wonderful!
Grifdog22 is up next to finish up this report, with their post-ABD Milford Sound adventures.