On March 17th we said goodbye to Tsing Tsing and boarded the plane for New Zealand.  He promised us “barbeque and native dancers” the next time we came.

None of us wanted to leave.  In just 2 short weeks, we had fallen in love with the islands and the people of Tahiti.

When we reached the Airport in Papeete, Tahiti we approached the ticket counter to check in for our flight to New Zealand.  I had booked our flight TO New Zealand 2 months prior but I had not booked a flight out of the country.  We thought we would leave our plans open so that if we decided to stay longer, we could.  Well, I guessed I missed the section in the guide books about how you can’t enter the country without a ticket to leave.  Apparently,  the six other parties that were frantically buying tickets, missed that little tidbit of information also.  We frantically found a ticket that we could cancel within 24 hours and booked tickets for a flight that we would never take.

Finally leaving on Air New Zealand.