The driving has ended

January 18 con't Well the Hangi dinner and concert didn't disappoint. It was a wonderful experience, a small look into the Maori culture. January 19 Up early and on the road for our final leg of the self-driving portion of our NZ experience. From Rotorua we drive Southwest down to Waitamo for our foray into the Glowworm Cave. A very surreal sight. On a boat floating thru the dark in among the stalagmites and stalagtites while looking up wat what appears to be thousands of stars but is really the worms. Distantly related to lightening bugs, the larvae glow to attract bugs to their "sticky threads" similar to a spider web. The visitors become dinner. From their we continue North to Auckland. Auckland is huge is comparison to the other cities we've visited. It's more sprawling than Calgary and the traffic ... find our hotel, dump the luggage, turn around and return the car only to find ourselves in a taxi back during rush hour - not a cheap ride! We've just come back from wandering and dinner on a patio overlooking one the main roads in the area. A little overcast today but pleasant. Tomorrow is Day 1 of our three day bus tour up to the Bay of Islands. The last go-go-go with a 7am bus pick-up. Better go up and see how Dave's doing with the luggage paring down. Going to leave as much here as possible as we'll be back for one night, no sense in hauling our purchases and unnecessary clothing. All the best everyone. Hey ... any news or gossip I should know about??? Everyone's been quiet - not sure if that's good or bad!!! LOL