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So after 35 wonderful days in New Zealand, all our pictures and Cathi’s well written commentary of our trip, here are a few of my thoughts and comments.  We drove over 7,000 Km (4500) miles. I can’t imagine seeing the country any other way. Our van and campsites were very comfortable and reasonable. The van cost us about $65/day US (85/NZ) and campsites were between$25 to $35 US  (35 to 45 NZ).during our stay the US dollar was about 25% higher than the NZ dollar😄😄In other words if some thing cost $100 NZ/  My credit card charge was only $75 Us. Thanks to research and Alexa, our credit and debt cards have no fees attached. Gas was about$1.90/liter or $7.50 per gallon. Food was also a little higher than home, but every meal we ate out was excellent. (Don’t forget I know restaurants). Their grocery stores were well stocked,fresh meat and lamb/fish, etc. Their produce was all very fresh and high quality. From a season stand point we were there during what would be our August& September .

Since their school year starts Feb 1, we benefited with less travelers on the road, in camp grounds or doing tourist things. That’s not to say we didn’t run into tourists in destination places, just less than in season. Germans and Brits were predominate travelers (getting out of their cold) not to many Americans.

The speed limit of 100 km (60mph) is followed by almost all drivers. even I had people passing me. Hard to believe going up and down the mountains made a 30 mile drive take almost an hour,the switchbacks going up and down, up and down. But in the end New Zealand exceeded any and all expectations we had.  It has truly been a wonderful time in the Country.

We have just landed in Sydney at 2 PM on Monday, March 16, ready to start the next segment of our ZWT.  We will be in the city the next 4 days before heading off in another van for a 3 week excursionSouth to Melbourne and the Great Ocean Drive to Adelaide  and then back to Sydney before going up to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.