On the eve of their departure from New Zealand, Kenneth Taylor, MD and Lori Taylor, MD, along with their two boys, Gavin and Griffin, sat down and penned a heartfelt last entry for their family blog:

As we ready ourselves to leave this fine country, we have found ourselves compiling lists of all of the things we'll miss. Granted, there are things that we’ll be really happy to return to (garbage disposal, gas cook-top, Mexican food and Rennin, our crazy black lab), but there are countless things here that have us waxing nostalgic before we leave.  

We'll miss…

The relaxed, slower pace of life, walking to school barefoot, checking the surf on the way and taking a family walk after dinner. Sure, you can get caught up in sports, school and work just like in the states, but somehow it really - truly - is different; Kiwis have a better sense of balance, I think.

Feijoas! We'd never even heard of this fruit before we came here. They are similar to pineapple guavas, but we never ate those in the states. Here they are offered by the bushel at the side of the road. They are sweet and delicious and easy to eat by scooping the flesh out with a spoon. We wish we had a feijoa tree to take home with us. There’s the great kiwifruit we've had here, especially the golden kind whose skin isn't as fuzzy so you can eat it like an apple; the New Zealand Rose apple, so crisp and sweet; and green-skinned pumpkins, which Gavin eats straight from the pan once they've been roasted.

We'll miss having a lake as a backyard, with black swans, paradise ducks, a horse to eat our apple cores, and a walking trail. Griffin and I ran around the lake to get our flabby selves in shape (too many ice cream cones). Our family took walks around the lake in the evenings while the boys fed the ducks bread – maybe a little too much (RIP Bob). I'll miss the dawn chorus of birds around the lake - magpies, ducks and the occasional tui.  

FRIENDS!! Most of all we will miss the kind, big-hearted, generous, adventurous and genuine people that we have met here. We originally viewed this adventure as a chance to really experience a different country; we hoped to travel and find natural beauty and adventure. What we didn't expect to find - but are so glad we did - was a second home. We'll miss them all so very much.

Dr. Kenneth Taylor is a family practitioner from Southern California. He and his wife, Dr. Lori Taylor, a specialist in pediatric medicine, and their two boys (Gavin and Griffin) have been experiencing life in New Zealand. For more about their experiences Down Under, read the June edition of LocumSpheres.