Have they gone yet?
That was the question on many New Zealand people's minds in recent weeks as the most scrutinised and publicised visit to these shores in some time lurched from one drama to another.
It was almost on the scale of the 1956 Springbok tour, or the arrival of the Beatles in 1964, or the 1983 visit of Charles and Di.
There was wide-ranging media coverage, and intensive debate over the latest range of incidents.
Politicians weighed in. Entire towns plotted the movements of the touring party and asked themselves: are they coming here next?
And it was not just New Zealand that got caught up in the fever of the visit; headlines were made around the world.
What a summer, and all it took was The Visit of the Unruly Family to put us on the map.
Were they Irish or English? Genuine travellers or merely globe-trotters? How many were there? Why exactly were they here?
Whatever the answers, it was some ride.
Our guests gave us memorable villains: John Johnson, real name or not, became instantly meme-worthy when he was photographed leaning against a vehicle, beer bottle in hand, and the little bloke who threatened to ''knock your brains out'' then made an obscene gesture created the biggest impression by a visiting child since Prince William played with a Buzzy Bee.
Most of all, the family made us laugh.
There was the quite brilliant claim about being related to the 10th-richest man in England. The wonderful weirdness of having the children steal a gas station's Christmas tree. ''Hiding in the hills'' above Wellington. Walking through the drive-through at a burger joint. And the delightful incident that led to a witness being quoted: ''He was eating toast and he threw it on the ground.''
Really, has any All Black test or royal visit or music act ever grasped the national imagination quite like our travelling friends?
It is hard to say what all this nonsense means.
The crimes committed by the family were relatively minor - littering, petty theft, trying to cram too many people into a
hotel room, having unsuitable car seats for children - but perhaps that is precisely why they captured the imagination. Crime waves don't tend to involve such inconsequential violations, let alone be orchestrated by people exceedingly ill-suited to roles as master criminals.
Perhaps it become a statement on modern society, on the reality TV generation's tendency to elevate the ordinary to a level of attention previously showered on the extraordinary. Or, perhaps it's just because it was the holidays, and so little was happening in this funny little country at the bottom of the world.
Whatever the case, enough is enough. One more story on this family will be one too many.
AND ANOTHER THING
At this rate, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott must be planning to retire by the time she is 20.
Otago sport's golden girl delivered another ''sick'' performance at the weekend, becoming the first New Zealander to win a snowboarding gold medal at the X Games.
Remarkably, she wasn't even supposed to be competing. In shades of John Daly going from ninth alternate to winning golf's PGA Championship in 1991, or All Black great Brian Lochore being whistled up to play the Lions and leaving a handwritten note for his wife in 1971, Sadowski-Synnott was second reserve for her event before two other athletes withdrew.
Initially something of a novelty act, the X Games have long been a highly respected part of the calendar for summer and winter extreme sport athletes.
This is a big deal, if not quite on the scale of her wonderful bronze medal at last year's Winter Olympics.
Sadowski-Synnott, the reigning Otago sportsperson of the year, is a special talent.
