Happy Feet

Backblip

Our last day in Auckland and what a full day it's been:-)  We had to check out of our hotel by 1 pm, but the flight to Singapore wasn't until 1.15 am the following day, so there was a lot of time to kill.  We killed it by visiting a huge Sea Life Aquarium first and really enjoyed seeing masses of penguins in the snow, including several baby ones just hatched.  Exactly like watching Happy Feet, the movie!  They also had several types of shark which swim in a giant tank, some of which goes over your head as you walk through.  Other highlights were the turtles, sting rays and an octopus called Rocky!

As we still had quite a few hours to spare , we caught a ferry over to Devonport, a suburb on the opposite side of the bay to the main city and had a guided bus tour of this very pretty old area of wooden houses and hugely expensive waterfront apartments.

Back in Auckland later, we walked to a park not far from the hotel and had a picnic in lovely warm sunshine.  While there, we were entertained by a young couple who were practising their samba moves to a recording of Latin American music on their "boom box".  Candidates for a New Zealand version of Strictly, perhaps?  We were also lucky enough to spot a very pretty parrot called a Rosella, a native of Australia, which flies wild in the parks.  See Extra and marvel at the colours:-)

All too soon, it was time to return to the hotel to retrieve our luggage and meet up with the few others who were doing the return flights with us, although many of the group were extending their holiday with a few more days in New Zealand or Thailand.  It was sad to say goodbye to our wonderful Kiwi tour guide and bus driver, who had both made the trip such fun and educational.

We had decided to upgrade the flights for the long journeys to Singapore and then London and we were so glad we did, as the extra leg room and improved menus made the long flights almost bearable!  We even managed to get a little sleep (no screaming children on board this time!)

Once back in Edinburgh, our lovely driver was waiting for us and whizzed us home in next to no time.  Neither of us could have managed that drive at the end of almost 30 hours of travel, including 25 hours of flying.  What a wonderful holiday it has been, with so many lhappy memories of people and places we have met and seen.  Thank you so much for following us and all your lovely comments and stars etc.  Glad I was able to share the trip with you - the power of Blipfoto:-)