Final Kiwi Moments (Auckland, NZ)

Whangarei was amazing. There's little to be said for the town itself, but the hostel I stayed in was a great old house filled with worn oriental carpets and friendly guests. I was there for several days so I got quite comfortable. I got plenty of quality time with a nice flighty British girl and a great couple of Dutch kids and the very involved Kiwi owners (they introduce every new guest to everyone else and wake up everyone rising in silence every morning so that nobody is bothered by staggered alarm clocks).
There were waterfalls to explore of course and a bird sanctuary to check out on a private visit with a Rough Guide writer where we had length conversations about swimming and Christmas with a talking Tui, a native bird. One day I dove at Poor Knights which was pretty great. A rough trip to sea had sensitive stomach Dara near-vomiting for 6 hours, but it was worth it for the chance to see stingrays and neon sea cucumber-like nudibranches and too many fish to count. Another day Hannah the flighty English girl and I went exploring in pitch black caves. We took flashlights and wore aquasocks and that was it. The paths even above ground between the caves are nearly impossible to follow. It was like Indiana Jones.
I loved it! The caves themselves are filled with water at points waist deep. There are a million gloworms, little larvae that stick to the ceiling and glow like a planetarium to attract food, and it's just as well that I didn't know until afterwards that there are apparently large eels down there as well.
After Whangarei, I came back to Auckland where I was collected by my cousin's mother-in-law for an unbelievable whirlwind tour of the city including a delicious picnic lunch and the gorgeous Winter Gardens and the aquarium and dinner at her house. It was fantastic. Two days later I'm still eating the world's sweetest citrus fruits from her gorgeous backyard.
Now it's off the airport. Asia-bound!

NEW ZEALAND SUMMARY:
Highlight: Kayaking on Milford Sound, Caving in Whangarei
Lowlight: Not getting to hitchike (A German girl was murdered just before I arrived and it took several weeks to find the killer. Even afterwards, I was widely discouraged)
Weeks spent: 6.5
Cities visited: About 18
Beds slept in: 21
Staple foods: Things from New World Supermarket. Namely kiwifruits, bread and cheese, the occasional bit of NZ-made Cadbury chocolate, more kiwifruits.
Average cost of lodging: Around $16 US
Average cost of beer: Around $4 US
Favorite phrase: Heaps
Total time spent travelling to date: 6.5 weeks