New Zealand

A whole day of walking through more atmospheric pools and craters, cruising across Lake Taupo to see the Māori rock carvings and finding another supermarket can be quite tiring. We were fully exhausted by the time we got back to our Airbnb. But there was no time for resting; we had a whole load of maths to do.

“I’ll just get our tickets for tomorrow’s glowworms trip,’ I said to Don.

“How long is the drive?”

“Two hours maybe?” I opened google maps to assist with calculations, “so I’ll aim for 11am tickets.”

“How long do the glowworms take?”

“An hour?”

“How long is the drive back to Auckland from the glowworms? What time do we have to return the car?”

He is certainly one for the questions. He is also a stickler for obeying the rules of car return.

“6pm.”

Having ascertained the timings and due dates of all returns and check ins, I returned to the ticket bookings.

All timeslots sold out.

I went to a different company. Most timeslots sold out.

“9am is available.”

“What time would we need to leave here?”

“Hmm, ok, forget 9am. We could buy one ticket at 11:40 and one ticket at 12?”

“That sounds fun. No.”

“We could go to Hobbiton instead?” I suggested, switching websites and rerouting google maps.

“How long will it..?”

“One hour to Hobbiton, two and a half hour tour, two hours to Auckland.”

“Ok I suppose.”

“Only afternoon tickets left.”

“Would we be back in time to return the car? What time is that again?”

“6pm. We’d just make it.”

This did not please him.

“I’d rather see glowworms than hobbit homes.”

“Ok let me recalculate,” I switched websites again.

“There are two late afternoon tickets for glowworms.”

“How long is the glowworms tour? How long is the drive back to Auckland again?”

“One hour. Two hours.”

“Can we sleep in?”

“Yes.”

“And what time do we need to return the car?”

I clicked on ‘Purchase’.

“7pm,” I said, “we’ll be fine.”

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