{"id":4412,"date":"2025-10-18T19:10:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T19:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/?p=4412"},"modified":"2025-10-18T19:10:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T19:10:30","slug":"last-day-and-we-head-back-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/?p=4412","title":{"rendered":"Last Day and We Head Back Around the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1393-1-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1393-1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1393-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1393-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1393-1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1393-1-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Our hotel above the beach sheds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wellington is hilly, seaside and very windy. It&#8217;s charming and youthful, the capital city with lots of students. More people live in Auckland, more than 1\/3 of the population of the country, but I would probably choose Wellington over Auckland if I were asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1397-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4415\" srcset=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1397-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1397-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1397-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1397-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1397-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We loaded the bus and headed out to finish the day with a geologist who tried to get us to understand uplift, subduction, tectonics&#8230;I struggled. Some of this is last day brain. I was anticipating the long flight and transition to the airport. Another part of the struggle is that I do better with classroom geology talk first because I have trouble picturing how the still, solid rocks, were moved into place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"4416\" src=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1399-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4416\" srcset=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1399-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1399-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1399-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1399-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1399-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"4417\" src=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1401-1-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1401-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1401-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1401-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1401-1-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1401-1-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"4418\" src=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1405-1-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4418\" srcset=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1405-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1405-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1405-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1405-1-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1405-1-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> And I did know myself. I took the time to make a note on this picture of an cliff. These rocks are 200 million years old, some of the oldest in New Zealand. But what a pretty day! It included a picnic lunch which was a very apt way to end a visit to a country with such beautiful outdoor resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1414-1-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1414-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1414-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1414-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1414-1-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1414-1-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">200 million year old rocks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then comes the airport,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1426-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4422\" srcset=\"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1426-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1426-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1426-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1426-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/graceffa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1426-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With a lovely sign that tells you to relax instead of posting the gate. We also discovered that you cannot buy chewing gum at the airport. They are afraid of it being stuck to the furniture and such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We flew home and suddenly it was spring April showers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wellington is hilly, seaside and very windy. It&#8217;s charming and youthful, the capital city with lots of students. More people live in Auckland, more than 1\/3 of the population of the country, but I would probably choose Wellington over Auckland if I were asked. We loaded the bus and headed out to finish the day [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[51,68],"class_list":["post-4412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-47","tag-new-zealand","tag-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4425,"href":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4412\/revisions\/4425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceffa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}