I bet you thought this would never come to an end--but we're almost done, I promise...

After rafting the Kaituna, we followed our rafting guides' advice and drove to a secluded spot where a hot (near boiling) and a cold (near freezing) stream intersected. We donned our bathing attire and relaxed in the intersection of these streams, choosing a temperature that suited us all simultaneously!

We returned to Auckland for one last night on the North Island of NZ. We were sad that the vacation was nearing an end, but grateful to have been able to share such wonderful memories!! We had one more day in Auckland, and we chose to spend it in the Auckland zoo. This was primarily because we had not seen New Zealand's emblem, the kiwi bird. We are told it is very difficult to observe this bird in the wild and figured we could at least see it at a zoo. The zoo was very impressive, with a wonderful rainforest exhibit, in which numerous monkeys roamed free!

Tired and sad that our vacation had come to an end, Mom packed up her things and prepared for the long flight back to the states! Mike and I enjoyed a final night in Auckland before heading back to Melbourne and back to work...unexpectedly, mom was bumped from her flight and we were able to have one last bru-ha-ha before leaving far-too-early the following day.

We hope you've enjoyed our NZ memories in photo-form. We are back at work, trying to earn more vacation time (and more money!). We are travelling to Adelaide next weekend, just for the weekend, but we are looking forward to visiting some of the best wineries in Australia. We hope all is well with everyone. Until our next web-page update (or the next time we talk to you), G'day!

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