Today our holiday finally came to an end. And so my daily blog posts come to an end as well, although I may do a summary post or two in a week or so. This post covers both Friday and the first part of Saturday.

At breakfast this morning we asked if we could get a late check out and without hesitation they offered for us to stay in our room until we leave for the airport this afternoon. We've been very impressed with The Barracks Hotel and this impressed us even more.

We took our time over a cup of tea and then took our time over packing.

Then, with everything complete, we spent some more time relaxing by, and in, the pool.

The front desk has arranged a taxi for us so, while we waited for it to arrive, we had a last cup of tea in the lounge.

And had a last photo taken in front of the pool.

Then we were off to the airport.

Our flight home was on a Singapore Airlines ticket but the flight was operated by Air New Zealand. One consequence of this was that we had been randomly allocated seats on opposite sides of the cabin a few rows apart and neither airline had been able to change that. At the airport, however, a friendly employee of the airport / airline (we don't know which) was able to correct this quickly.

We'd arrived at the airport early, thinking this might take some time, so now had plenty of time in hand. At this point my unexpected stay in Singapore at the beginning of the trip became useful as I was able to guide us along the walkway to the Jewel shopping centre where we spent some time admiring the indoor forest and waterfall.

I also knew where there was a "design your own hot chocolate" shop. This produced very nice hot chocolates that we drank in the company of some angry fishermen.

Back at the terminal, we did some last minute shopping and then visited the Butterfly Garden. It was a bit late in the day so butterflies were a little scarse and those that were there were difficult to photograph except at the feeding stations.

Going through security was frustrating as usual. Every airport has different rules and the staff all bark at you if you don't have your phones out or in, shoes or belts off or on, use a tray or don't. You are apparently supposed to know what rules they will be enforcing on the day. At Changi, they had very good signage in the queueing area so we knew exactly what was expected of us - phones out, shoes on, use a tray - except, when we reached the front of the queue the barking employee was insisting on phones in, don't use a tray and was randomly deciding whether you kept your shoes on or not - and woe betide you if you observed what they were asking the person in front of you to do and tried to follow suit.

Flying Air New Zealand for this leg gave us the chance to compare their Premium Economy with Singapore Airlines. Singapore Airlines is supposedly known for their friendly crew but we didn't observe that at all. The staff on Air New Zealand were much friendlier, attentive and helpful. And they also had Linda's favourite Mollywoppy Ginger Cookies in stock in the galley.

But one area where both airlines disappointed was in the maintenance of their cabins. For the third time in four long haul flights at least one of our party had something wrong with their seat. Previously, we had had a broken seat pocket and an unstable tray table; today it was an entertainment screen held together (unsuccessfully) by duct tape.

Nine flying hours later we landed in a sunny but cold Auckland. I had declared my orienteering shoes and then wondered how much to argue with the Biosecurity Officer when he declared "Norwegian forests in summer? There wouldn't be any mud, carry on".

Emily picked us up and we were soon home and back into real life.

We have had a fantastic holiday. It is great to be home - we both felt ready to be back - but we are missing being on holiday already.

I've got a couple of ideas for follow-up blog posts summarising our holiday but that won't happen for several days. Thanks for following me - us - on this journey.