Thanks

The big adventure is over! It was the trip of a lifetime and something our family will hopefully remember forever.

The MARS team would like to say a huge thank-you to all of those who helped make our trip extra special.

Thanks Andrew for dropping us off and picking us up from Auckland airport. Great job, you made it real easy.
Thanks John and Tanya, Fiona and Wayne and Kev and Kathy for picking us up, dropping us off, running us around, giving us your advice, feeding us and hosting us in your homes. You guys were awesome and were three special highlights in our 6 weeks away. We very much appreciate it. Cheers.

See you all when you return home for summer, and we'll catch up over a Mac's and a barbie.

Thanks too, to those who posted comments on the blog and sent emails and texts. It was great to hear from you and to keep in touch with what was going on at home. Very cool ta.

The home run

Thursday 6th Dec.
The last day of the big adventure. We raced to Disneyland at 9 to catch the early opening for "hopper pass" holders with the idea that we'd do the biggest rides without waiting in a cue. Unfortunately they only opened half of the park and it wasn't the half we wanted to go to. So we had to settle for another Space Mountain ride and another Buzz Lightyear ride. So we farewelled Disneyland and headed across the courtyard to California Adventure Park. This park is only new and has some rides more suitable for older kids. We went straight to the roller-coaster called California Screaming but unfortunately it was out of service so we had to take the ferris wheel which was a bit lame. The coaster got fixed soon after so were able to take a couple of rides and it was great. Shari and Adam also went on the tower drop ride and we all had a couple of goes on the white water rafting ride where we got soaked through.
About 4 we had to cut a track for the airport and prepare for the long flight home. It was great to hear kiwi (and Aussie) accents in the line-up to get on the plane and we knew it would be great to get home and see everyone and sleep in our own beds but we were all unanimous that if we had the choice we'd love to keep travelling for a bit longer... but 12 hours and 2 minutes later we were landing in Auckland (at sunrise) and it looked fantastic. The air is so clear you can actually see the horizon!
Andrew picked us up and took us back to Ngatea and then we drove back to Waihi. After a whole night without sleep it was just as well it was only a half hour drive!
It was a beautiful day and we had a BBQ for dinner... until it started to rain! Aaah, it's great to be home.