Finally in New Zealand!!!

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Woo hoo, we are finally in New Zealand!!  :-)  It is such a relief to have made it.  We tried not to get our hopes up before the flight from Hong Kong to Auckland actually took off!

Marlene & John picked us up at the airport and Rachel brought Zach along before his day at school.  It was so nice to see everyone again!  We didn't even feel that tired... bizarre, considering that we'd been awake for 48 hours (with the exception of a 3-hour kip in Taipei!).  By 14:00 we felt like a wee nap though... and woke up 5 hours later!!  We soon got rid of that horrid groggy feeling by having a swim in the pool.  Bliss!

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Zach was with us for the next four days and we had a great time playing and swimming (up to 3 times a day!).  On Thursday, Gina and our (super gorgeous!) niece Kaitlyn visited.  It was the first time that Dean met her and of course, being one and a half years old, she didn't remember me from my last visit in February.  So she was very shy with us to begin with... but that soon changed!  She is a real bundle of energy and such fun to be around.

On Friday, we visited Gina and spent some more time with Kaitlyn - mainly running around and throwing toys all over the place.  Oh, and eating chips!  In the afternoon, I did some shopping in nearby Pukekohe while Dean took Zach to the park with his bicycle.  We both went back to Pukekohe to get haircuts the following day.  Nothing quite as radical as in Asia last year though!  We just look slightly more tidy now  :o)

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On Sunday, we went for a nice walk down to the creek and I went for a proper walk around the farm.  I am convinced that some of the boundaries/fences have changed though, because I got lost!  Marlene's dog Meg, who came with me, was the worst guide dog imaginable... I expected her to lead the way, but instead she just sat in front of me waiting for me to point the way!  That evening, we said goodbye to Zach which is always an emotional affair.  At least we'll be living a bit closer now and he will be able to visit us in Melbourne sometime.

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On Monday, the glorious weather turned rather gray, so we finally got our act together and booked our flights for the trip round the South Island.  We fly out tomorrow and return on 23 December in time for a family Christmas.  We then went for a lovely drive to Conifer Grove (a very swish area where Dean used to waterski), Mareitei beach, Formosa (the golf club where Gina & Andrew got married), Clevedon (where we stopped for a coffee at the deli and Dean had one of the famous Mrs Mac's pies and a chocolate fish!!!).  In the evening, we realised that we had been so concentrated on getting our flights booked that we had forgotten to book some accommodation for the following evening.  That was our last job for the day, before packing and falling into bed.