We woke up to sulfur and clouds, and sought comfort in WiFi and french crepes.  It worked; our mood and the clouds lifted!

We set out for the Redwood forest by town to get some fresh air and re-acclimate  for our imminent return to the US.  Dwarfed by these impressive trees, we enjoyed looking for the birds which now had countless more hiding spots.  By lunchtime, it was cool to see how many people were using this park for a run, mountain bike or stroll.

We set back on the road, landing in a smaller town just south of Auckland, our final stop.  We took in a local museum, but found no one out and about here.  The cricket semifinal of NZ versus South Africa was on, and locals weren’t budging.  With T’s help we found a video that made a bit more sense of the game for us, and were impressed by the eventual victory for NZ.