day 18 ...

 

Just 1 page of photos for day 18. 

 

Today's the day I must get aboard an airplane and return home.  Here's a final view of the hotel.  Our room was the top right one.

 

James takes me to the beech.  Volcanic rock, and always a volcano in sight.

 

We got a map of New Zealand at a mall, and I hand it to James so he can highlight all the routes we took on my trip.  He's drinking ginger beer, a lovely beverage I have discovered over here.  I'm sad, because I know I'll miss all this good stuff that I can't get back home.

 

I dip my toes in the Pacific.  No sand on this beach, just broken up bits of shells and volcanic rock.

 

Another view of the rocks and a volcano.

 

A sailboat goes by.

 

It is one of many.

 

Two more stops before I board the plane.  First, to see Shay, whom I met in American the summer of '03, at the same time I met James.

 

Shay's wife, Jackie, and the youngest of their two daughters.

 

The cat.  Jackie wants a dog, but Shay says no.

 

Our last stop before the airport is the Navy base, where James lives until he leaves the Navy this December (he's got his 20 years in, and is going back to school to be a winemaker).  I get a few final photos of the Auckland skyline.  City and countryside alike, this is such a beautiful country.  I'll miss it, and I'll return one day.

 

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