Exploring Australia&NZ Day 22

Day 22 - Saturday, May 7, 2011 - Flight from Auckland, NZ to Los Angeles, CA to Denver, CO

This morning was our last day in New Zealand and the last day of our Australia / New Zealand Adventure. Melanie arranged a 6:30 wake up call and for the last time we had our bags packed for our flight home.

We boarded the bus at 8:00 and John and Melanie took us on a brief tour of the City of Sails. We traveled back and forth across the Harbour Bridge for an excellent view of the thousands of pleasure craft in the bay. Talk about $$$$$!

John pointed out the Sky Tower, the highest structure in the southern Hemisphere. Auckland is the fastest growing city in New Zealand or Australia. Amazingly there is no unemployment – anyone who wants a job can find one.

Having the America’s Cup has brought much employment and industry to the area. Many owners of large yachts bring their boats to Auckland to be serviced and repaired by the fine craftsmen.

There is little poverty in this city or anywhere in New Zealand. There are no slums in the city and there are only 60 known homeless people. It is their choice but they do have shelters and food kitchens available for these few people.

We passed the Fergusson Container Wharf and the Port of Auckland where all of the container ships are loaded and unloaded. Although this is certainly not the biggest cargo dock we have seen, it was still very impressive.

Everywhere we traveled today we saw people riding bikes, jogging, sailing, crewing, or just out walking and enjoying the beautiful fall morning. New Zealand is a very fit country and Auckland is an outdoor paradise.

We ended our tour at the top of Mount Eden Summit where we were able to get off the bus and take a few photos of the 360º view of the city. The temperature was 66º with a few powder puff clouds.

Arriving at Auckland International Airport at 10:00 we found the lines were already very long to check into the Qantas’ Los Angeles flight. It was a good thing we had arrived early.

We boarded our Air Bus 330-200 at 12:30 and we began our 6522 mile journey to Los Angeles just about five minutes after our scheduled departure time. The flight was full but Gennie had called Qantas a few months ago to select seats.

Qantas has not been easy to work with; they have little competition in this regional market giving them a poor service reputation. Our 12 hour flight ended in foggy LAX at 6:30.

After collecting our bags, going through immigration and customs, we had to recheck our bags to the American Airlines system. We took a shuttle to the outlying American Eagle Terminal.

The connecting flight to Denver was not scheduled to leave until 10:50 so we had plenty of time to get ourselves organized and stretch our legs. Gennie began to type the journal and I organized our final set of photos from the past days.

Luckily there were no delays and we arrived in Denver at a little after 2:00. We had a little lunch/dinner and made our way home, happy to be in our own home after three weeks living in hotels and on the road. We love to travel but we are always pleased to be home safely.

Accommodations: Flight and Home - - - Meals: Breakfast

Please see our Trip Evaluation -- Click Here -- A Complete Review of Exploring Australia & New Zealand with Odysseys Unlimited.

A CD OF EACH TRIP IS AVAILABLE.

These CDs are compilations of slide presentations of each day (pictures of the events during the day) accompanied by music reflective of the nation and day.

On most CDs there are presentations on the people of the country, people traveling with the group, flowers, and panoramas.

On more recent trips, short videos have been included on the web pages and these videos are also available in the CD.

The CD is available for $20 US. Shipping and handling is included for US addresses. Slightly higher for overseas shipping. There is no charge for people who traveled with us on this trip.

To view an example of the presentations Click Here

As it is an 8:13 presentation, give yourself time to see it in its entirety.

Please contact garciatrips@gmail.com for more specific information and a screen capture of the CD menu.