new zealand 2007 - day 12

We learned from the proprietor that the drive from Dunedin to Christchurch takes about 5 hours. On our drive up the east coast, we made a short stop at the Moeraki Boulders south of Oamaru. The boulders are curiously round boulder sitting on the beach. People like to speculate that they were washed up, but they are actually concretions that have been deposited as the cliffs along the shore have retreated.

For the first time since we had arrived in New Zealand on this trip, the weather was rainy. It made for interesting driving, but cleared up as we approached Christchurch. We stopped for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. We should have gone to the Korean restaurant next door. By then, we were ready to drop off The Tomato and sit like vegetables in the airport. I recalled our postcards, which we never had time to write, so we sent those off to friends and family before going to our gate.

Our flight to Auckland was late arriving and left us with less than an hour to get our bags and haul them a kilometer to the international terminals, pay an exit fee ($25), pass through security, immigration, customs, pass through (very rude) security again, and nearly miss our flight to San Francisco. I thought American carriers had cornered the market on sucking, but apparently I was mistaken. I think the state of air travel today has really killed a fraction of the joy of international travel. When we landed 12 hours later in San Francisco, I felt elated. United managed to get us to Denver without incident. We were greeted with snow and freezing temperatures in the Rocky Mountains as we pulled into the garage. We were home.

For the first time, I was looking forward to coming home instead of wishing I could stay in New Zealand forever. That might be because we've moved to a great place since our last trip, but I think it also has to do with the duration of this trip. We have certainly made note of other places we want to explore on our next trip, but I think we're fine to noodle about locally for a while.