Alex was attending a college that was on trimesters so had a very long winter break. I booked a 22 day trip to Australia and New Zealand using Friendly Planet her freshman year over her holiday.

Sydney

Day 1 – December 5th – We had a flight to Sydney, via Tahiti. We only had about 70 people on the plane, so after takeoff and dinner, I went to the back, got four seats and stretched out. We arrived in Sydney around 0740 feeling pretty good. After collecting bags, getting through customs, and meeting our group, we got on the bus for a tour of the city around 0900-0930.

We went to the Royal Botanical Gardens, Mrs. Macquarie’s Point, for great views of the Opera House and Bridge, Bondi Beach, Darling Harbor, King’s Cross, Hyde Park, Wooloomooloo.

We ate lunch at Bondi. Bondi is the aboriginal word for the sound the waves make. About 1315 we arrived at the Sofitel Wentworth Hotel in downtown Sydney. We were greeted by a doorman in top hat and tails! Very fancy. The hotel was in a great location, close to the Harbor.

I signed us up for several optional trips through Friendly Planet and also made some reservations with the Concierge, including the Bridge Climb for tomorrow. The afternoon was free so after checking in, showering and cleaning up after our almost 24 hours of flying (30 minutes to Chicago, 2 ½ hours to New York, 12 to Tahiti, 7 to Sydney) we went back out.

We walked down to the Opera House to see it close up, then over to Darling Harbor and the Harborside area for shopping and people-watching. We made it back to the hotel for our welcome dinner with our group by 1830, lamb, mashed potatoes, and salad. We sat with Gregory and Rena, Russians immigrants from New York. We went to bed early.

Day 2 – December 6th – We were up early for an excellent breakfast then off to the Bridge Climb. We found the entrance (after backtracking a little) and after suiting up in their special jumpsuits, taking off all metal, and a little practice with our harnesses and the static line, we headed out with our group and leader for the climb. It was a little overcast that morning but cleared off and we had a great climb and excellent views. We both really enjoyed this experience, very glad we did this. We weren’t allowed to carry anything with us, including cameras but they took photos for us and I purchased a set, one of Alex and me and one of the group; those prints are in my scrapbook.

We finished around noon so went out for lunch. We stayed in the area doing a little shopping and then went to our tour of the Rocks at 1430. We were the only two signed up so we had a nice private tour with our guide. She showed us all around the Rocks area, the oldest in Sydney and site of the original settlement of prisoners for several hours. There are a number of historic buildings, information signs, and open air exhibits.

After the tour we visited The Lord Nelson Brewery (one of several that claim to be the oldest pub in Sydney) for a couple of microbrews. We walked over to Darling Harbor again and had dinner on the waterfront. After dinner we went to the Sydney Aquarium. It has three large walkthrough tunnels plus much more to see, 6000 animals and over 650 species.

Day 3 – December 7th – We took the ferry to Manly, a northern suburb of Sydney to spend some time on the beach. The ferry was great, beautiful views of the harbor, very enjoyable. It took about a half hour. We walked down the main promenade to the beach and spent about 2 hours tanning and swimming. We left around 1130, picked up lunch on the way and ate on the return ferry.

We went to the station to catch a train to the Featherdale Wildlife Park. It took about 45 minutes then we caught a bus. The park was great. We got pictures with koalas, feed the kangaroos, saw a wombat, Tasmanian devil, crocodile and lots of great animals. Alex even got to enter the penguin exhibit and pet a penguin!! We took the bus then the train back to Sydney.

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

Day 4 – December 8th – We walked down to Circular Quay in the morning and just sat enjoying the views and people. Later we went to the hotel to catch the bus to the airport for our flight to Cairns. We arrived around 1530 and drove through town for a quick tour before going to our hotel, the Novotel Oasis. Not as fancy but it had a great pool. We changed and went swimming for a while then dressed and went out for dinner at Rattle and Hum. A couple other people from the tour came while we were waiting for a table so they joined us for dinner. I had a seafood sampler and Alex had crocodile. I tried it too … tastes like chicken! 🙂 Afterward, we went over to the Night Market and shopped.

Day 5 – December 9th – Today was our included full day tour of Green Island and the Great Barrier Reef. We had a bus at 0830 take us to the ferry building for our one-hour trip to Green Island. We had a glass bottom boat tour on arrival then returned to the island. The Great Barrier Reef is over 1430 miles long, has 700 sand cays and 300 islands, 400 different types of coral and 1500 species of fish. We had a small lunch then Alex and I took a boat out to snorkel for an hour. So beautiful! We saw so many fish and the colors of the corals are amazing.

When we returned we walked around the island for a while, Alex laid on the beach and we relaxed by the pool until it was time for our return trip at 1600. We stayed at the harbor and just walked to the Night Market Food Court. We had seen a Thai place there yesterday, so we had a quick dinner. When walking back to the hotel, I found a bottle shop so picked up a six-pack of beer and had a few of those sitting by the pool with Bob and Kristie, a newlywed couple, on our tour.

Day 6 – December 10th – We had signed up for the optional trip to Kuranda today. We left by bus at 0830 for the train station to catch the Kuranda Scenic Railway. It was a beautiful trip through rainforests, past waterfalls and with amazing views. It was 34 kilometers long and we went through 15 tunnels. The track was started in 1886 and completed in 1891.

Several of us were avid photographers and jockeyed for positions by the windows. We arrived in Kuranda around 0945 then went immediately to the Rainforestation. Our guide, Steve, drove us on an Army Duck through the forest and into one of the lakes telling us about the rainforest. After arriving back in Kuranda, we had time for lunch. I had an Aussie meat pie, while Alex chose an German brat (that she got all over her white skirt!) We did a little shopping before meeting the group at 1300.

We bought our glass crocodile ornaments at the market. We then went over to the Skyrail for our gondola trip over the rain forest. Alex and I rode with Jay and Seetha. This was the first time we really talked to them, but got to know them a lot better by the end of the trip. They are from Michigan and a really great couple. Jay likes taking pictures as much as I do. The Skyrail ends next to the Tjakpukai Aboriginal Culture Park. The ‘t’ is silent. When searching for information on the park for this write up, I found that it closed “permanently” in January 2021, due to COVID, but reopened October 2021, under new owners. 

The Djabuguy people, whose culture goes back 40,000 years, performed for us. We heard a didgeridoo, saw dances, and got a chance to throw boomerangs and spears. We saw a couple of shows, one that documented how the aboriginal people were treated by the white settlers. We caught a bus back to Cairns and our hotel after our informative and interesting visit.

Alex and I went out that night and tried a restaurant recommended to us by a number of people, the Red Ochre Grill. We had some excellent kangaroo sirloin steaks. These are not the 6 foot kangaroos that tourists love, but a different species, raised for meat. We ended the long day with a relaxing swim in our beautiful pool.

Day 7 – December 11th – I woke up early, had breakfast and went out for a walk along the esplanade, letting Alex sleep in. Cairns is built on mudflats, so there are really no beaches but the esplanade runs along the water. The walk was beautiful, but hot, and I enjoyed the views. I even saw a crocodile sitting in the water. I could see his snout and eyes. It makes sense there are signs all along the waterfront: caution, crocodiles, don’t go in the water, and warnings not to clean fish along the shore.

Melbourne

We left for the airport around 1115 and flew to Melbourne, via Sydney, on a 1300 flight. We arrived early evening. We stayed at the Radisson. Another beautiful hotel. Alex wanted to go running, the hotel staff said it was safe, so I took a walk downtown with Jewel and Sue, from Arizona. We walked down to the Yarra River, saw the riverfront, casino, fountains, then came back to the hotel around 2300.

Day 8 – December 12th – We were on the bus at 0900 for our tour. Our guide, Michael, showed us around the city. One third of Melbourne is parks, we also saw St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Fitzroy Gardens, the conservatory, Melbourne Cricket Grounds. We visited the Shrine of Remembrance built after WWI, but additional memorials were added after every war that Australian soldiers participated.

Jane, our Friendly Planet guide, bought some ANZAC biscuits and gave each of us one to try. We visited the Botanical Gardens, then the bus dropped the group off at the “Art of Opal”. Forced shopping!

Alex and I skipped that and went to eat lunch. We also spent some time at an internet place so Alex could check email. We bought some dinner to take with us to Phillip Island, before we caught the bus at 1500. This was another optional tour I had signed up for.

Phillip Island is about an hour south of Melbourne and home to about 2000 Fairy (or Little) Penguins. This is the smallest penguin species, only about 6”. Every night, after fishing all day, the penguins come ashore and head to their burrows. It is a wildlife sanctuary but they allow visitors in the bleachers that are set up on the beach. We stopped part way there, at Granville, for a toilet break then on to the Island. There is only one restaurant on the island, Taylor’s, and the rest of the group ate there. We had checked the menu and prices earlier which is why we bought our food with us. Alex and I stayed on the bus and ate our Subway, then amused ourselves by using the bus microphones and singing songs and playing games.

After getting to the beach, we went through the exhibits, which were very informative. We got to see some baby penguins in their burrows waiting for the parents to return to feed them. We also spent a LOT of money in the gift shop getting penguin items. Alex loves penguins, but then again, who doesn’t?

Around 2100 we went down the boardwalk to get a seat in the bleachers. It was a little rainy but we really enjoyed seeing the cute little penguins coming up to shore. We’d see a few bobbing up in the surf, then pulled back out by the tide, floating back in. One would come on shore as a scout, then several more and they would run up into the bush. This continued quite a while, with little groups of penguins. Many people left so Alex and I kept moving up closer to watch. Finally we headed up the boardwalk too, stopping many times to watch the penguins waddle through the bushes to their homes. I think we were the last on the bus. It was a great night.

Day 9 – December 13th – We had the morning free so Alex and I went up the street to the Queen Victoria Market, a big open air market with over 1000 stalls. I went to the ATM twice (so did Alex). I bought a t-shirt and kangaroo skin rug. Alex bought a shiny pink cowboy hat for her friend Jenny. We also had time to visit the Old Melbourne Gaol, the jail where highwayman Ned Kelly was hung. It was a very interesting visit. We left at 1300 for our flight to Christchurch, again, via Sydney.

Christchurch

After arriving at Sydney, we found out our New Zealand Air flight to Christchurch was canceled. We were put on Pacific Blue. Jewel and Susan were bumped and ended up having to catch a flight to Auckland and then got into Christchurch the next morning. It was a horrible flight, every seat filled, loud, with lots of crying kids, and you even had to pay for water. It was also freezing and one of our group asked for a blanket. He was asked by the flight attendant if he was ill. When he replied “no”, he was told he could only have a blanket if he was sick. Don’t fly Pacific Blue. We arrived Christchurch around 0100 and taken to Copthorne Durham Hotel.

Day 10 – December 14th – Our morning tour of Christchurch was optional. We signed up and saw the two beautiful little rivers, the Avon and Heathcote. Very picturesque. The town is called the most English town outside of England and it really does live up to it. We also saw the Bridge of Remembrance, dedicated to New Zealand soldiers from every campaign, Victoria Square, Cathedral Square, the Mona Vale Gardens, gorgeous rose gardens, with great homes along the Avon.

We went to the Sign of the Takahe up on Akaroa summit overlooking Christchurch. It was started in 1908 and completed in 1949, but is designed like a 14th century English Manor House. We had an excellent English tea with heavy cream and scones and jam in the dining room. Bill Clinton met with the New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, here when visiting New Zealand.

After tea, we took the Christchurch Gondola to the top of the extinct Lyttleton volcano. The day was overcast and very foggy, so the view from both the Takahe and the gondola was quite limited. We rode through heavy clouds on the way up. The peak does have an interesting movie on New Zealand history, including the volcanic origins and creation of the island that made it worthwhile.

After returning to the hotel, Alex and I went back to the Christchurch Cathedral and climbed the tower. We walked around downtown, back and forth across the bridges on the Avon and down to Victoria Square, visiting several of the places we had seen from the bus windows.

Alex went back to the hotel and I went over to the Botanical Gardens for a couple hours not really caring exactly where I was, just enjoying the beautiful gardens. I finally found my way to the street, figured out where I was then headed back to the hotel to meet Alex, Jewel and Susan for dinner.

We had planned to meet at 1800 and I had to really walk fast to be on time since I came out of the gardens on the opposite side of where I needed to be. We went back downtown and ate at the Boulevard Restaurant. I had some excellent chicken, Alex had a pizza. Then Jewel and Alex went to the hotel, so I went shopping with Sue. I took her to the place I had been earlier with Alex. We got back to the hotel a little after 2100 and went to bed early. We had been up quite late the previous night.

Queenstown

Day 11 – December 15th – We left at 0700 on the bus to Queenstown. We drove across Canterbury Plains. We made our first stop at the Tin Shed, for bathrooms and shopping. I’d been looking at the sheepskin rugs but this was very expensive, much more than in Christchurch. I hoped for better prices in Queenstown.

Next stop was Timaru, then we turned inland and drove along the Waitaki River. We had lunch in Omarama, some excellent homemade tomato soup, then went along to Cromwell where we had another stop. We traveled through the Kawaru Gorge, a major earthquake zone, where the New Zealand/Pacific fault runs, before arriving at Queenstown around 1715. It was great to get off that bus.

The hotel was the Novotel Gardens, we had beautiful rooms with a balcony overlooking the rose garden and a view of Lake Wakatipu. They had free laundry so I ran down with our dirty clothes and got a couple washers. Alex waited to talk to the concierge, Hamish, and made reservations for Bungy jumping and white water rafting on our free day.

Seetha heard us talking to Hamish, so she and Jay signed up for rafting too. While our clothes were drying we headed up the street and found the HMS Brittanica, a restaurant recommended by our guide. We both had “Drake’s Steaks” with peppercorn sauce, roast potatoes, salad and garlic bread. It was a fantastic meal. We hurried back to our hotel for our 9 o’clock reservation in the Jacuzzi. It was a private room, just the two of us, and a very relaxing end to our day.

Day 12 – December 16th – We had a full day tour of Milford Sound today. It was another very long bus journey starting early. We were on the road at 0700. We had many stops on the way. It took 5 hours to travel 181 miles to Fiordland National Park. We stopped at Te Anau and bought lunch here at Jane’s recommendation to eat on the boat later.

We drove through the Homer Tunnel, a mile in length, that descends to Milford Sound. We stopped at the Chasm and took 20 minutes to walk through the rain forest to see waterfalls and rocks with amazing holes carved in them by the water. We arrived at Milford Sound in time for our 1315 boat tour. We ate our lunch on the boat, sandwiches, crackers, cheese, then went up on deck.

It was another windy, cloudy, rainy, foggy day, but the views were okay. We saw lots of dolphins and seals, beautiful waterfalls. We went back down because it was quite cold, though. After a long bus ride back, we arrived at the hotel around 1930. We went out and got some great sandwiches at Ferg Berger, and took them back to the hotel and ate in the garden. Alex and I spent a half hour in the Jacuzzi then went to bed.

Day 13 – December 17th – We had to be at AJ Hackett Bungy office by 0800. Alex signed in and weighed in, then we took a van to Nevis Gorge. It is really out of the way, a 4-wheel drive was necessary to get there. We all got in harness, even the spectators, and then got on a small gondola car to the platform suspended 134 meters over the gorge. I thought even the gondola ride was scary, it had an open mesh bottom, so I didn’t look down.

Alex waited her turn, it went heaviest first then reverse weight order, then she was up. She got attached to the bungy line, went out on the little platform, hesitated for just a second … then leaped. Wow! I took a half roll of film through the glass floor. They sent us back across in the gondola in groups of six as we finished. We waited in the office for everyone to finish. We bought the CD of Alex’s jump.

We made it back to town around 1130. We bought sandwiches for lunch then met Seetha and Jay at the hotel and went to the Queenstown Rafting office at 1300. We took a bus from the downtown office to a site outside of town. We got suited up with waterproof suit, helmet, life jacket, and took a van on a very scary ride through Skipper’s Canyon to the Shotover River. It was one lane and very narrow, some places I thought the van, with the trailer carrying four rafts, was sure to go over the edge. We arrived at the river and were put in groups with our guides. Jay, Seetha, Alex and I were with two others and our guide Mark.

While the water was calm and slow he had us practice paddling, forward and back, moving left and right, “getting down”, holding on, and other maneuvers to make it through the rapids. We had an awesome time, but a little slow moving. Two rafts got stuck on the rocks and Mark and the other guides had us all stop – beaching our rafts – so they could help get them off. Mark said he’d been doing that river for over 8 years and it only happened one other time. The water level was really low which was part of the problem. We were late getting back because of that, and didn’t arrive back until around 1900.

I wanted to go up in the gondola over Queenstown, but Alex went back to the hotel, so I went up with Jay and Seetha. It is a very, very steep climb, probably around 75 degrees straight up. There are amazing views of the Remarkable Mountains and Lake Wakatipu and town. After getting back to town, I went to hotel to pick up Alex for dinner and we went out for Mexican, at Sombrero’s. We went straight back to the hotel and to bed after a long day.

Fairlie

Day 14 – December 18th – We left Queenstown for Fairlie. En route we stopped at Arrowtown, for 45 minutes, with nothing to do, then drove through Linden Pass. We stopped at Omarama again for lunch, then to Twizel. We dropped a few people off for an optional flight to Mt. Cook. We stopped about 30 miles from Mt. Cook at Lake Pukaki. The lake is a gorgeous aqua color formed by glaciers. We could just see Mt. Cook in distance. We drove on to Lake Tekapo and stopped at the Church of Good Shepard.

We picked up Dee, Bill, Diane, and Richard from their flight and then went through Burke Pass to Fairlie where we met our farm families and divided into groups. Alex and I went with Bob, Kristie, Bill, Dee, Gregory and Rena to Steve and Jennifer Crone’s. Steve took us on a tour of his farm, we went through numerous paddocks and we ended up on a high hill overlooking some of his 3000 acres. Alex and I walked back, scaring lots of sheep and being scared by some cows. They just stood there in the middle of the path, staring at us and not moving, so we both wondered, will cows attack? City girls.

Dinner was excellent. Jenny is a great cook and much was homemade. We started with kumaru (native sweet potato) soup, then roast lamb, roast potatoes, vegetables (pumpkin, squash and kumaru), rolls, mint sauce, gravy and chocolate cake with kiwi and strawberries for dessert. We drank red currant juice. She picked the currants and made this, too.

Before dinner, we helped Jenny feed four baby lambs whose mothers had died. We gave them bottles of milk and a baby calf licked Alex half to death. Alex played a ball game with Jenna, 12, their youngest of five children, and the only one still at home. We all sat around in their living room talking until around 2300. Alex and I both took showers before bed. 

Day 15 – December 19th – We woke fairly early. Everyone else was lined up for showers, I was glad I had mine last night. We had a huge breakfast. Jenny made eggs, fresh bread for toast, homemade Manuku honey, homemade muesli cereal and lots more. She and Steve only had toast.

We met up with everyone in our group back in Fairlie and caught the bus at 0900. We continued to Christchurch to catch our plane to Auckland. We stopped at Tin Shed (again!) and the Cromwell fruit stand (again!) on the way. So a two-hour drive turned in to 3 with those unnecessary “forced shopping” stops.

Auckland

We arrived at the Christchurch airport around 1245, we had lunch then took off at 1445 for Auckland. We landed around 1615. Murray was our driver. Our drive to the hotel took about an hour and a half because of rush hour. We stayed at the Carlton, another very nice hotel. On the way to the hotel, Murray had driven through town pointing out a few things, so Alex and I headed up the street to the Mai Thai restaurant he mentioned. We brought Pad Thai back to the hotel, along with some beer and vodka coolers. We ate and drank in our room while watching movies and playing cribbage.

Day 16 – December 20th – We had breakfast at the hotel, then caught the bus at 0900 for our morning tour. We saw America’s Cup Village at Viaduct Harbor. Auckland has the highest number of boats per person in the world. Auckland is on Manukau and Waitemata Harbors. Waitemata means sparkling water in Maori.

We drove through Paratai, an expensive part of town with big houses, with great views of the water then went to Mount Eden, an extinct volcano. This is the highest of 11 extinct volcanos in Auckland. We had a great view of the city.

We had to hurry on to Auckland War Museum as we were due at the Maori Dance Exhibit at 1100. After the performance, the group was allowed another hour and ½ at the museum but Alex and I left and headed to the Sky Tower hotel to catch the free shuttle to Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctica Encounter. We had lunch on the way then walked though the gardens on the way to the Sky Tower.

We caught the 1310 shuttle. The Antarctica exhibit is great. We took a snow cat through the Emperor penguin area twice, saw stingrays and another great aquarium, and were in time to view the shark feeding. We stayed until after 1530, then waited for the 1550 shuttle back to town.

Alex was tired, so she went back to the hotel while I wandered around town. I visited the Ferry Building and harbor, window shopped then stopped at the Thai place again for more Pad Thai. It was really good.

French Polynesia

Day 17 – December 21st/December 20th – We didn’t have to check out until 1100, so we had breakfast then walked around town for a while. We went back to hotel (our room keys no longer worked so we had to get them reactivated) then caught bus to airport for our 1430 flight to Papeete, Tahiti.

We crossed back over the date line so gained back the day we lost at the beginning of our trip. We arrived in Tahiti around 2100. We were greeted with a fresh flower lei, after clearing the long line at customs we took a bus to hotel, the Intercontinental Tahiti. We had a very short drive to our beautiful hotel. We were given a welcome drink in the lobby and got our keys. We saw the gorgeous infinity pool from the lobby and couldn’t wait to jump in.

We took our own luggage to room, as we had been doing most places, since it seemed to take forever to get bags delivered. We had a long walk to room then changed into our suits and went back to pool for a quiet “midnight” swim. Several others from our group were there enjoying the beautiful night. There was a waterfall at one end of the pool that we sat under for a while and we also enjoyed the stars as it was a gorgeous, clear night. Heaven.

Day 18 – December 21st – We had breakfast on the open air patio overlooking the pool, we were joined by Sue and Jewel. There was an included tour of Tahiti, the museum, and a few other sites, but Alex and I wanted to stay by the pool so we had told Jane the night before we wouldn’t be going. She got the hotel to let us stay in our rooms until 1300. Several others had the same idea. We spent the morning by the pools, we had found another beautiful infinity pool at the other end of the resort.

We had lunch on the patio (sandwiches we had made at breakfast), then we shared a taxi downtown with David, Diane, Bob and Kristie. We arrived around 1430 and walked around the market for a while. I used the ATM and got some Polynesian French Francs. I picked up a couple liters of diet coke for the hotel, then we went and sat by the ferry waiting for the others to arrive from their tour.

They barely arrived for the 1600 ferry to Moorea. It was a 30-minute ride to the island then a 45-minute drive to the hotel, halfway around the island. Another beautiful hotel, the Beachcomber Intercontinental Moorea. The rooms were perfect! The one pool was small and not as nice as Tahiti, but they had a great beach. There was a luau that night, buffet dinner and entertainment but Alex and I just had dinner at the hotel dining room outside by the pool. We both had Mahi-mahi with pineapple salsa, it was very good. We also feed some to a skinny cat who seemed to enjoy it too. We spent some time in the pool then played cribbage on our patio overlooking the ocean.

Day 19 – December 22nd – We had another free day. Alex went kayaking, and I decided, foolishly, to walk into the little town “close by”. Long, HOT walk. Bought some groceries and some sandwiches. Long, HOT walk back. I was very sweaty when I arrived. I had to peal off my clothes. I had lunch in my air-conditioned room in my swim suit so I could cool off then went to the pool.

We stayed by pool, sunning and swimming until around 1700. Jewel came by and asked if we wanted to go to town for dinner. This time we all took a taxi. Smart. We ended up at the Tortuga for pizza, but Jewel and Susan went to the Plantation for dinner. Jewel has gluten allergies and didn’t want to eat the pizza/pasta. We meet them at the Plantation and had desert with them then caught a free shuttle ride back to the hotel. I went for a quick swim, then changed clothes and met Jewel, Susan and Alex in lobby where we played some cards.

Day 20 – December 23rd – We spent the day at beach. I swam in the ocean, tanned (without enough sun screen), and tried to go kayaking with Jay. I’ve kayaked solo but the two-person kayak is harder than it looks and I think we weren’t working well together. We did make it out to some of the coral reefs and eventually back to shore. More tanning and swimming before getting a shower, packing and meeting in the lobby at 1500 for the bus back to the ferry, the ferry back to Tahiti, and the bus to airport.

We stayed in downtown Papeete for about an hour, just enough time for some dinner, Chinese. We were scheduled for a 2200 flight to New York, but it was delayed until after 2300 as there was a problem with the plane door. We actually ended up getting the the LA flight’s plane as there was an ill person on a stretcher who had to go out immediately. So they took all the LA bags off that flight, put the New York bags on it, and we took off, waving good-bye to our tour friends heading to LA. Not as bad going back as it was “only” an eleven hour flight.

Day 21 – December 24th – We arrived just about an hour late in New York, around 1530. We got our bags, through customs, waved good-bye to our other tour friends, including Tom, Ann, Jay and Seetha, then caught a train to the other terminal for our flight to Chicago. The plane left on time, arrived on time and we caught our flight to Bloomington. We arrived around 2130, with no luggage. They were still in Chicago, probably because the gate changed 3 times. The Bloomington airport is very small and we had to wait for the person who was helping land planes to get back to the front desk to fill out missing luggage paperwork. We got home around 2300. We were VERY tired and very cold. It was 90+, perfect weather in Tahiti and we came home to 30, overcast, rainy, typical Bloomington December weather.

Fantastic trip! Our luggage arrived the next day. I left the laundry until after Christmas, however.

** All photos property of Lisa, not to be copied or reproduced **