And now friends, the thrilling conclusion, as promised....over a year ago. We told you we were great at cliffhangers!

While it's unlikely that anyone besides us will read this, we figured, nearing the two year anniversary of our arrival to the other side of the world, it was high time to wrap up the telling of our adventures in Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud! When we last checked in, we were leaving Rotorua and heading up to the Northland for one last adventure.

After spending a view nights in the bustling metropolis of Auckland, making travel arrangements and attempting to sell our beloved Smaug, we finally decided that our time would be better spent if we found one last relaxing destination to spend our last few days in the country. We could worry about selling our car later, like when we were on our way to the airport. So as a tropical storm was waylaying the northeast coast of the North Island, we packed up and prepared Smaug for one last feat of strength as we set off for the small town of Russell in the Bay of Islands.

Consulting our handy atlas, we decided we would take the Old Russell Road, because it was clearly the most direct route. Under normal conditions, and if it were a normal road, this might have been true, but soon after we left the highway, the pavement disappeared, the ocean began falling from the sky, and the windy dirt "road" we chose was quickly littered with downed trees. However, being as accustomed as we were at this point to transportation woes, we navigated the minefield, and a short two hours of white-knuckle driving later, the clouds parted and the setting sun presented itself to us as we gratefully rolled into Russell. (Soon after our arrival, we learned that there was a free ferry that we could have taken, saving us 2 hours and loads of stress, so next to time you find yourself in the Bay of Islands en route to Russell, look into the Opua-Okiato Ferry.)

We only had two nights and one day before we had to head back to Auckland to fly home, giving us just enough time to tick off our final must dos:

1) Eat fish and chips wrapped in newspaper on a boat converted into a restaurant - check

2) Improvise a haka next to a Maori war canoe at the site of the Waitangi Treaty - and check

Strange objectives, yes, but next time you're on the boat from Russell to Paihia, brainstorming how to spend your last day in New Zealand, we'll see if you come up with better!

Our few days in the Bay of Islands was a perfect venue to conclude our adventure, away from the noise and stress of the big city we had just left. Another fantastically beautiful and peaceful spot in a country with a seemingly endless supply of them, we enjoyed looking back on the memories we'd created, friends we'd made, enemies we'd vanquished (or at the very least, annoyed) and pondered what future adventures lay ahead.

Our time in New Zealand came to a fairly abrupt end, due to a number of intersecting circumstances, but ultimately, we knew the time was right. Winter was moving in, and we had enjoyed having a year without it, so the call of summer in the Rocky Mountains was too strong to deny. After a hectic day traveling back to Auckland, fortuitously selling our Smaug en route to the airport to some fellow travelers beginning their adventure, before we knew it, we were over the Pacific ocean, on our way to Colorado.

And here we have remained. We've enjoyed two beautiful, fire-free summers in the Rocky Mountains, and now once again gratefully embrace the cradling calm of winter. We've settled back into mountain life, in an old stone house in the hills southwest of Denver, at the foot of Mount Snerpus.

These days are restful and rejuvenating, but all of life is an adventure, and we're always looking to our next experience. Sooner or later, we may exhaust the beneficent graces of youthful freedom, but hopefully that day will sail by us without our noticing, and life in Neverland will proceed, uninterrupted.

To all who have followed along, thank you! For allowing us to share our journey with you, for your words of encouragement and support, for the persistent nay-saying of our so called friend Jay Lewis, whether actively following along or occasionally checking in, we hope you've enjoyed our story, and inspired you to plan an exploit of your own!

 Until the next!