Ten months ago we started this journey with one major goal: to see all of the major areas of New Zealand. We have officially accomplished this milestone and are so grateful for the adventure and memories along the way!
The last spot in New Zealand to complete our journey after the northern tip was the "Kauri Coast" which is the northwest coast of NZ. It is comprised of the largest remaining Kauri forests in New Zealand. Kauri trees only grow in NZ and take hundreds of years to mature.
There are some massive ones left but sadly many of them have been logged and now they are also dying from a fungal disease called "Kauri Dieback". Because this disease is spread in the soil we have to carefully clean our footwear every time we enter and leave a forest. They have stations set up and it is quite the process but so worth it because these are some very impressive and unique trees!
Unfortunately the end of our journey involved a lot of rain so we didn't quite get to enjoy the forests as much as we hoped but it was still a very cool site to see. After visiting the Kauri's, we worked our way back to Snell's beach to visit some MN friends and enjoyed a wonderful Kiwi style dinner with them. At this point we officially made it full circle because Snell's Beach is where we spent the first and last night in Waka.
It has been a busy couple of weeks for Dan and I since we completed our journey through NZ. Not the normal stress we are used to this time of year but instead the stress of transitioning once again and this time around it is the biggest transition yet. We have found a lovely helpx host family in the town of Albany of all places :) We were able to move out of Waka so we could get her all cleaned up and ready for her next adventure. Within 3 days of posting her online we found her a new Dutch family. It was very hard to let her go but also a weight off of our shoulders to have her sold. We will truly never forget our second home and are so blessed she was so reliable and treated us so well during our time here!
We will stay at this helpx in Albany for about another month. Dan is doing some building projects for them and I am maintaining the household by cleaning, cooking, gardening and helping out Dan in between. They have two girls age 9 and 11 and I get to teach them piano lessons so I think this is a match made in heaven! We have also been busy working out the details for our next adventure and just booked our flights! We will leave New Zealand on January 16th and head to Thailand. We will visit for about 1 month and are very excited to experience a completely new and unique culture! It is possible to travel Thailand pretty cheap so we are excited to take in as much of the beauty and culture as possible! (We also want to stretch out our travels long enough to come back closer to spring instead of the heart of winter). From Thailand we will head home with a pit-stop in Tokyo for a 4 day stop-over! It will be fun to get a small taste of another new culture on our way home!
Today we are heading to Waiheke island which is supposed to be a gorgeous paradise! We will spend 4 days here while our host family has grandparents staying with them. It will be a very nice mini-holiday for us and is a place we wanted to visit while in Auckland! Then we will be back in Albany just in time to celebrate Christmas with our helpx hosts! It is going to be very hard to not be with family on Christmas but we are grateful we have our lovely host family to celebrate with.
As we count down our final weeks in New Zealand and make future plans for our next adventure we have been reflecting a lot about our time here. It is crazy how fast this year went! I am still blown away by the incredible scenery, and how much we have grown and experienced in these 10 months. We don't know exactly what our next adventures have in store for us, but we are incredibly happy we took the leap of faith and completed an adventure here in New Zealand!! We wish you all a wonderful and safe Christmas season and send you our love from the land down under :)
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