Now, where were we? Australia to New Zealand

Welcome to New Zealand.

After over a month, we are back on our random rambles.

We flew back to Canada for a family emergency. Back again, now in the land of the long white cloud, New Zealand.

Australia to New Zealand
Woodcarving over shop door in Auckland

We’ll be brief for this entry, as we get back into the swing of things.

But first, let’s recap our last few days in Melbourne. We visit the top of the Eureka Tower.

View of Melbourne from Eureka Tower

We also visit the Botanical Gardens.

Australia to New Zealand
Hydrangeas

In Fitzroy Gardens is Cook’s Cottage, transported brick by brick from Yorkshire.

Australia to New Zealand
Actually, it’s Cook’s Mum and Dad’s cottage

We have lunch again with my old friend Philip.

A bit plumper. A bit balder. But still fighting the good fight, I like to believe.

In keeping with our Ned Kelly interests, we visit the Old Melbourne Gaol. This the site of Ned’s hanging.

Australia to New Zealand
No noose is good noose

It looks virtually the same as in this contemporary etching.

Australia to New Zealand
‘Such is life’ are reputed to be Ned’s last words

We fly from Melbourne to Auckland. In Auckland, we don’t even leave the airport – we fly directly back to Ottawa.

Fast forward to late January. Resuming our journey in NZ, we come across this in the streets of Auckland.

Calling All Angels

So at least we’re caught up to our arrival here. More to come.

Sight or Insight of the Day –

We run into people we know from Ottawa on the streets of Auckland.

As we walk down Queen Street, we hear our names called. It’s Yves. Yves and Darlene are good friends of my brother and sister-in-law, Joanne.  (Darlene and Joanne are cousins.) We knew they were on a cruise in this part of the world, but it seems unlikely our paths would cross. Kudos to Yves for recognizing us among the throngs of the city.

We meet 14,219 km from home

How improbable is that? We celebrate by going out for dinner.