After a final repack on Friday morning - thank goodness for Karen's scales allowing us to work out 22.5 kg per bag, all under the 23 kg allowance, just! - we headed to the airport in convoy, the bikes and bags in one large minivan and the bodies in another car (thanks Karen and Alison, our taxi drivers!). After check-in (which took a very long time with 5 bags and 4 bikes) we headed through security for our bag searches, our drug testing and luckily for us not the cavity searches for the start of the long trip home. Both the flight to Vancouver and the flight to Auckland were full but we all managed a bit of sleep on the flight after jamming in as many movies as possible on the plane - makes for a much quieter flight than they used to be with everyone watching their own screens.
Arrived at 5.30am into Auckland to find that our bikes were still in Canada and wouldn't arrive for two more days - oh well an enforced rest off the bikes was going to happen. Cleared the bio-security area after being searched, had to apologize to the inspector after opening the waterproof and airtight bag continuing our cycling shoes - lovely smell, not!
Had a great breakfast with Melissa's mum and then met up with other family for a catch up and family time before flying home to Queenstown, a total time of traveling from Calgary to Queenstown of 34 hrs with transit times - no wonder we were a bit tired when we got home. After a day of washing, cleaning, unpacking and putting away things we finally found the living room again and today the bikes arrived. It was a beautiful day so to celebrate the final step in our trip, all our gear arriving and put away, we headed off for a .... bike ride!!
We would like to say thank you to all our family and friends - old and new, who helped make this trip possible for us and so enjoyable. Leslie who looked after our babies at home (Emma and Pippa, the black labs), the house and the clinic as our practice manager (and Bruce for putting up with the worst winter in history in Queenstown), our staff - Sarah F, Gillian, Lynne, Sarah H, Charlotte, Katy and Lois - who worked their butts off to keep the clinic operating while we were building up our butts cycling up mountains, the new friends who took us into their houses - Marg in Victoria, Erin and Ashley in Duncan, Brian and Wendy in Burnbay, Brian and Taraleigh in Mission, the old friends who we stayed with and shared great times with - Shelley and Brad and girls in Nanaimo, Susan and Orest and boys in Canmore, Karen HP and Sean and boys in Jasper (camping counts!) and Karen B and Greg and boys on the trail and again in Calgary, Alison - our mail drop box, telephone payer, gear sorter and old baby friends - Suzanna and John and kids, Donna and Steve and kids. We also would like to say thanks to those fellow cyclists who made our trip memorable and special for both us and the boys - Rob and Kathy who taught the boys how to jump off trestles into rivers and that cycle touring was cool, Thomas and Alana who showed the boys that touring was fun and should be be shared with fellow cyclists, especially over cake and ice-cream.
We have had a fantastic time, pushed the boundaries and found hidden strengths, both individually and as a family. The trip was everything we planned and more. Over 2500 km on our bikes, seven mountain ranges, two provinces and an island.
Will we do it again? YES is the answer from all of us
Signing off for now - Melissa, Simon, Peter and Michael
