The best comes last

The last day in New Zealand. After our usual morning routine, we decided to treat ourselves to a massage today. Just around the corner, TripAdvisor recommends "Wayne Massage". All reviewers were very satisfied. We might have been too, if we had found it. After walking up and down the tiny street at least 3 times for 25 minutes, we decided to go shopping instead. We still needed a T-shirt, flip-flops, and swim shorts. And at 1:00 p.m., we had to check in at the Maritime Museum for our whale and dolphin watching tour. So we only had one hour for shopping. What a stress.

We quickly found a T-shirt, but the flip-flops for Schahaatz, let me tell you, buying a car is faster.

We made it on time for the boat tour, even though we didn't have flip-flops and swim shorts. The captain promised sunny weather and calm seas. 

But black clouds are moving towards Auckland. 

Hopefully the ship will leave before the cloud reaches us. It almost worked. After we took a seat at the front of the deck 

and the boat was heading towards the harbor exit, 

a few drops fell from the sky. But only briefly, then the sun was burning again. It was a great tour. First, we saw hundreds of dolphins, 

in front of, next to, and under our catamaran. 

Then birds suddenly diving from the air like arrows to catch fish. Dolphins hunting in the middle, jumping high. A wonderful spectacle of nature. BBC National Geographic couldn't have shown it better, at least above the water. And then the highlight, several whales 

(one after another in different locations) gliding through the water at a leisurely pace. Very close to the boat. It was beautiful to watch. We had already seen whales in America, but never this close. 

All in all, it was a great experience and a successful tour. Even though the clouds on the way back 

didn't promise anything good, they were gone when we arrived at around 6:00 p.m. 

Now, first a beer, and then we still have to shop for flip-flops and swim shorts. Eating and packing are also on the agenda. What a stress.

In Auckland, the shops are only open limited hours on Sundays, so we had to scratch that off our daily plan. Schahaatz found some guide against jet lag somewhere. And it recommends not drinking alcohol before the trip, not eating carbohydrates, drinking lots of water, and not sleeping. The first one didn't work, but our dinner was a perfect landing. Fillet steak with salad and water at one of the best steakhouses in Auckland, the Angus Steak House. If you ever come here, it's a must. I've never eaten so much meat. 

It was about a 450 g steak, may have been more. 

And grilled to perfection. Oh, it was so good. 

After that, we had to climb up the hill.

Oh, and after all the wonderful experiences, we still have to pack. If only we could get into our room. We held the room key up to the lock and nothing happened. Tried again and again, but always the same result. The door remained closed. So we went down to the reception. Luckily, it was only half an hour later, otherwise there would have been no one there.

We wanted to leave the hotel at 10:00 p.m. Wow, how things accumulate in 3 months. Thank goodness we have a baggage allowance of 35 kg this time. Suitcase weights: Me 33 kg, Carsten 34.5 kg. Perfect.

Until the nice lady at the baggage drop-off informed us that the allowed total weight in New Zealand per baggage item must not exceed 32.5 kg. 10 minutes of discussion and we were allowed to reduce the weight of the suitcases by the excess kilos. But now we could check in one more piece of luggage per person, but where would it come from? Thank goodness we had brought the cooler bag. It was immediately converted into an additional piece of luggage. The rest went smoothly, except for the usual (Carsten always had to unpack his backpack during the security check).

The plane took off on time at 1:00 a.m. local time. However, the runway urgently needs a new asphalt surface. Now we have 9 hours and 50 minutes of flight ahead of us.