They say (whoever they are) that all good things come to an end! In some ways, that may be true–we have, after all, departed from “down under” for our usual haunts. But the connections, the companionship, the experiences–these will linger forever, and affect us forever.

[I am writing this from home in Alberta] because, somehow, on the last leg of the flights, I mis-located my i-Pad on which I had been writing this final chapter, and to date it has not re-surfaced…the i-Pad, that is! (Very big, deep sigh!) However, thanks to “cloud technology” and other stuff too advanced from this feeble brain, I am able to finish this segment of my blog.

I last wrote at the ending of our Hobbiton adventure, when we returned to our campground in Rotorua. There we spent a final, enjoyable evening conversing with friends newly-met in the adjoining sites.

Sunrise the next morning found us winding up our camping portion of our sojourns and heading for Auckland, where we turned in the great beast and set forth for a night in a motel before the flight home–time to repack and repack and repack again until all fit into the suitcases within airline guidelines.

So our last sights of New Zealand (at least ones we took photos of) are from the motel–the gardens, the driveway…all on the Friday morning.

Eleven and a half hours later, LAX — no pictures from there! And then a wait until the 4 hour flight to Calgary…again, no pictures. (So, our departure from Auckland at 2:20 p.m., and arrival in Calgary at 4:10 p.m. on the same day–with 21 actual hours between departure and arrival–does this make up for our “lost” day on the way out?)

Then home to my sister’s house in Calgary where she had a wonderful meal waiting for us (Sweet & Sour Pork Ribs over Rice) and a warm, welcoming bed. It was/is great to be home.

Next morning, Saturday, we went out to do some shopping for essentials we had run out of, only to discover several things wrong in this next picture. See if you can identify them BEFORE reading the comments after the picture.

What’s wrong? These three, at least, will do to remind us we are finally home!

• cars parked on the wrong side of the road
• steering wheel on wrong side of car
• white stuff on the ground

Yes, we are glad to be home. And we are already scheming about trying to go “down under” again.

Thanks to all of you who have followed these adventure of ours. I will try and post a few more salient pictures in the days ahead without such wordy comments. But knowing you were reading what I wrote made the exercise worthwhile.