On our last day of “great adventures” in New Zealand, we went to Butterfly Creek, where newly emerged butterflies get released on a daily basis — sometimes, hundreds at a time, at other times, just a dozen or so.

 

We were there on a “dozen or so” day but there wear already scores (perhaps hundreds) of butterflies already flying around in their warm-weather controlled enclosure, so the small release wasn’t a disappointment at all.

 

Wendy, Helen’s daughter, with a butterfly on her shoulder

Wendy again with a butterfly on her wrist

 

 

Actual bearded dragon specimen

 

Diego the iguana

 

 

 

Communing with the goats (of course!)

and the piglets (of course!)

The final two days were free days for last-minute shopping. Lisa got so much stuff for herself and others during our adventures that she had to buy a larger suitcase to bring eveything she bought home. The one she brought fit inside it and the additional treasures fit around it, but it became too heavy to be allowed onboard the aircraft without extra fees, so we swapped out some stuff (clothes, stuffed animals, and other light items in my bag) for large candy bars, posters, mugs, jars of honey, and other heavy stuff in hers because I was still ten pounds under the maximum allowed weight (50 pounds) while she was just under 60 pounds.  We made it work at the airport so she could get her suitcase down to just under fifty pounds and avoid paying extra fees. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!

 

While they shopped, I napped. Yes, I was well and truly whipped by the time it all ended. As glorious as it all was, it took a toll on me. (And I’m sure on everyone else!)

 

On the day before we flew back, Lisa mentioned that she wished she had bought a tuatara stuffed toy. She thought she had but when she packed, she realized she hadn’t. So, because the Butterfly House is pretty much next door to the airport, we left a little early so Lisa could pick one up.

 

If I had realized how little I spent on this trip (other than the cost to get us to and from there on the flights, which I paid for — and paid off — well over a year ago!), I would have picked up a meerkat stuffed animal there, too, and I’d have snagged an adorable big octopus that I saw at the San Francisco Airport on the way back.

 

But, alas, those are my only two regrets, other than failing to wear  a mask on the planes on the way back and catching COVID as a result. GRRR!   I knew better, but I was just too wiped out after wending our way through a mile or more of lines to get to the airline seats to care.  I just wanted to sit down, close my eyes, and sleep!!!

 

I had a wonderful time but my cats missed me like crazy.  They still haven’t let me out of their sight, a week later. It broke my heart to see the way Patches reacted, especially. She appeared to believe I would never come back. She erupted in strangled but elated vocalizations that lasted more than 30 seconds, and she rubbed and purred and grabbed and kneaded. I almost cried.

 

I have promised her I will never leave her for that long again.  She’s 19, so it’s a pretty sure bet I can keep that promise…

 

Thank you so much, Helen, Debbie, Mark, Neil, Sean, and Wendy for your gifts (Wendy got us into the Auckland Zoo free under her annual pass) and for the pleasure of getting to know you and your family members and significant others as friends, up close and personal.

 

I will be forever grateful for the foresight, planning, cooking, clothes-washing and everything else you did to give us the most memorable vacation ever.