Day 19 - Goodbye Queenstown, Hello Auckland!

Today I'm writing again from the North Island, because we flew back to Auckland from Queenstown today, where our journey began.

The day started a bit more relaxed than the rest of the days here, because we actually didn't have anything planned for today, except returning the car and catching the plane. Accordingly, we left the house relatively late, but then went directly to the airport in Queenstown. The place where we had to return our car is about a 40-minute walk from the airport. Since we didn't know if there was a shuttle from there to the airport, Tobi dropped me off at the airport with all our luggage and he went to return the car. That way he could have walked comfortably to the airport. But luckily for him, there was a shuttle that took him comfortably to the airport.

At this point, I would like to praise our reliable Gustl, as we spontaneously named him today. He safely and quickly carried us through all of New Zealand. Here are some data about our time on the road.

Distance traveled: 4788km

Time spent on the road: ~60h

Number of breakdowns: 0

Number of Jucys seen: at least 200

Roadkills on the roadside: unfortunately some

(*Jucys are campervans that are very popular here and can be found everywhere)

So Tobi returned to the airport fairly quickly and we had a few hours to spare until boarding.

When the time came, it was just 'Goodbye Queenstown, goodbye South Island!'.

The flight itself was very smooth, but I took the opportunity to admire the island from even higher up than just from the mountains. That includes snow-covered mountain peaks, deep blue lakes, and green landscapes on the South Island and... well... a cloud cover over the North Island.

Arriving safely in Auckland, we checked into our last accommodation here, had a small meal, and now it's just waiting...

Because we are looking forward to tomorrow, when we will start our journey home full of anticipation for family, friends, and home.