back in Edmonton (for a while)

We're back home in Edmonton now, but before we arrived here's how we spent our last days....

We came to Papamoa to meet up with our German - correction - make that Italian friend, Reinhold.

Even though his name is German, he would say it's Austrian. He drove up from Opotiki while we rented a car and drove from Auckland. I'm starting to get used to this driving on the "wrong" side of the road.

As mentioned, we stayed at a house owned by friends of my parents. One nice thing was that they had a laundry machine! Finally, clean clothes! No drier so we hung our stuff to dry.

According to her skills, Amanda made us a great dinner.

The next day we went to the ocean and did some boogie boarding. Check this 14 second video - the waves were HUGE.



Well, I guess they look bigger when you're actually in them.

After visiting Reinhold on April 29 and 30 in Papamoa we went back to Auckland for the night and then flew early on May 1 back to Sydney. We visited a few more famous spots...

We had a little extra time this day so we hopped on a ferry and toured around a little.

I used this ticket vending machine for the ferry. Unfortunately I only had a $50 bill, and the ferry ticket was only $4

I got my $46 change in, well, change. Ya - $46 of coins. Great. Now I know for next time.

The next day we went to a museum and then spent our dinner at a good-bye party. No - not a party for us. Our German friends Daniel and Carmen who we met while Daniel lived in Edmonton have been in Sydney for the past two years, but are now moving back to Berlin. So we joined them for their good-bye party (even though it was actually our last day in Australia, and not theirs)...

That's Daniel on the right :-)

Dinner was at this German pub / restaurant "Lowenbrau" and it was a really fun night. The restaurant had a few competitions that evening, one of which was a hammering contest. That's Amanda on the right showing us how to swing a hammer. No tap-tap-tap girlie hammering for her. Ya - smack that nail! Reno princess in action!

Not much else to report. The next day we were on planes for the18 hour trip back. My folks picked us up and now we're back home in Edmonton. For a while. We have about a month here before we head off to Europe. I guess there won't be much to say between now and then. I'll see if I can finish off my trip planning and maybe send out an itinerary. That way you can all make your holiday plans to come join us at some point!

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