I attempted to start this blog about our wonderful adventure to New Zealand since our returned a few weeks ago.  Some how between personal responsibilities, grandchildren, Thanksgiving and the flu, I managed to put it off.

Ok, now that is over, and I am ready to begin at the “end”.  Yes, that is exactly what I said, “the end of our trip”!  It seems appropriate that in order to give you a bit of the taste of our entire trip, I must start at the end.  

We started out in Auckland and ended our trip in Napier.  After two weeks of golf, sightseeing, great food, meeting great people and oh yes, lots and lots of New Zealand wine, we decided to spend our last day shopping.  Something we found little time to do between the games of golf and wine tasting.  

Our flight out of Napier was not until 8:00 PM so, we had lots of time to find a few New Zealand treasures.  And, did we find a “real” New Zealand treasure!  We started our treasure hunt in the downtown area of Napier with all its quaint Art Deco shops and galleries.  Napier is known as the "Art Deco Capital of the World".  Every year in February, (their summer) they celebrate Art Deco Weekend Summer Festival.  They have three days of parades, dinner dances, outdoor concerts, great Gatsby picnics and everyone dresses in the Deco style.  

I have attached a link for you to review just in case you have a desire to fly 13 hours from Los Angeles.  Believe me, I would do it in a heartbeat.

http://www.artdeconapier.com/

Now back to our shopping adventure.  As you can expect, we were in and out of every shop while the guys waited patiently on the sidewalk.  As we were busy in one shop, one of my friends Paula, stepped outside for a few minutes when a local man stop to tell her that the Prime Minister of New Zealand was shopping in the store across the street.  Needless to say, the three of us left our husbands in blink of an eye and headed for the store.  After a bit of searching with only a brief description of a man in a blue shirt, we finally found him surrounded by security.  

We tried to play it cool and pretended to shop as we moved closer.  Finally, I decided to  approach one member of his security to verify that the man in the blue shirt was John Key, the New Zealand Prime Minister.  When he said yes, it was John Key, I told him that we were American tourists and could we take a picture.  He told us to go out of the store through a side door, and the Prime Minister would stop for a chat.  And, he did exactly that...he stopped and asked us questions about our visit in New Zealand and agreed to a picture.  After which, we walked with him out of the mall and onto the sidewalk where our husbands were standing with a rather surprised look on their faces.  John Key did not hesitate for a minute and walked directly toward our husbands with out stretched hand.  The three husbands and John Key talked for five minutes about the various golf courses they played during our two weeks in New Zealand.  And, received suggestions of great courses to play when next we visited New Zealand.

John Key was every bit the gentleman, very approachable, comfortable to talk with and the unexpected and delightful end to a marvelous vacation in New Zealand.  I have attached just a few pictures of the three ladies, Paula, Debbie and myself with John Key and of course a few pictures with our husbands.

FYI, John Key just won reelection as Prime Minister.  He also just happens to be the Minister of Tourism.

Prime Minister John Key with the ladies!