The Big Trip - Epilogue

And so I've been home for a few weeks, and I've had the chance to read back through all of my blogs and watch all of my vlogs. What an adventure that was; so many fantastic memories that are now starting to find the correct order in my brain!

Lets start with some numbers in case you were wondering how far I've travelled on this journey between 4th January and 25th May in 2024. The grand total is 38237 miles for my circumnavigation of the globe. This includes the mileage driven in both New Zealand and Australia:-

- New Zealand mileage:  7577 km (4735 miles) 

- Australia mileage:        15228 km (9517 miles)

One thing I hadn't realised is just how exhausted I'd become; reading back through the blogs I can see where I was starting to lose a bit of patience with the long drives, but full realisation came to me when I awoke one morning over a week after returning and discovering that I wasn't tired any more! It was at about that time that I finally got my rear into gear to unpack and store my luggage away.

After the best part of 5 months away, I ask whether I'd have changed anything. Well, hindsight is a wonderful thing but I would have made a couple of changes looking back at it now. The replan when I discovered that I could only get one night in Napier could have gone a bit further. I stayed at Curio Bay  the night after Napier, which was then a really short distance from Invercargill. In hindsight I could have missed the night at Invercargill and had either a second night at Curio Bay, or had an extra night at Te Anau.

I've stayed in some wonderful accommodation ..... most of it was great but there are some places that have been head and shoulders above the rest: Bora Bora, Coromandel Town, Curio Bay, Apollo Bay, Kununurra, Broome and Monkey Mia were all places where leaving was a bit of a wrench. Conversely, I couldn't wait to get away from Invercargill, Victor Harbour and Halls Creek, and at Katherine it was disappointing to have four nights in such aged cabins with toilet and showers in an outside brickhouse.

The excursions that I did have been generally great (with the exception of Broome where cancellations somewhat spoiled my plans). Highlights were Hobbiton, Whale Watching in Kaikoura, Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound in New Zealand, and Australian highlights were Sydney Harbour Bridge, Kings Canyon, Katherine Gorge and the Bungle Bungles. not to forget French Polynesia where all three excursions (Papenoo Valley safari in Tahiti, Jetski and ATV combo in Moorea and the cruise and island tour combo in Bora Bora). 

It's been commented that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree as my father loved (and would walk across fields for) waterfalls, and I've visited some fantastic falls. When I was in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, and south of Perth in Western Australia I found the waterfalls a bit disappointing as it was the dry summer, but when I reached the north and the end of the wet season things were much better.

I've definitely satisfied the travel bug for a while, but it's just a matter of time until the wanderlust returns, and it feels a bit dangerous to now know that Australia is fairly easily reachable with one flight!

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