Day of Departing New Zealand

Just gathering up my things here. Last minute packing and pressing things down so they fit. I received notification that my departure change until an hour and a half later but that shouldn't affect things too much. My connecting flight from LAX to MSP is still a rediculous 12 hours later. I'll have to see if I can change that when I get to the States. So now I'm just taking in the last breaths of New Zealand air, listening to the unique bird songs and contending with departure anxiety.
I have to give a deep thanks to Rob and Kel for their abundant generosity. Thank you to their lodging, meals, information, company, kindness and time. Some three weeks is a great deal of time to give to anyone and they have been so very hospitable. Hope to return it someday I do.
I think I'll maintain this blog as an record of future adventures. This wonderful chapter however, is nearing it's final pages. I thought it quaintly appropo to the end with the image I started with. The first was a painting of the Shire as seen through the door of Bilbo's Bag-End. To those that know it signifies the road ahead that goes ever onwards and the unknown journey that lies beyond us. That first step from your Hobbit-hole is always the largest and always the most difficult. So I leave you with a picture taken from inside the door of New Zealand's Bag-End. The door through which I now leave. I miss my family and friends which are only a stone's throw away, the summer sounds of the East Side and my garden and koi at my own Bag-End. Soon to be with pipe in hand and gazing at wandering Wisteria. Hope to see you all as soon as I can! Cheers!

'Take care! I don't care. Don't you worry about me! I am as happy now as I have ever been, and that is saying a great deal. But the time has come. I am being swept off my feet at last...'
From "A Long Expected Party", The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien