Arrived and on our way

Cathy standing front of our home for 50 days. Haruru Falls is in background

After 14 hours of waiting and layovers plus 19 hours in the air in 3 differenet aircraft we arrived in Auckland New Zealand on the 29th. All 3 flights were very smooth and without incident (except 1 of them was delayed for an hour). Our daughter-in-law Heidi provided us with frequent flyer miles business class seats for the Dallas-Fort Worth to Los Angeles & then to Sydney, Australia flights so we were able to sleep well on the trip. During the trip we crossed the International Dateline so we are now 18 hours ahead of Central Time - So we are now almost a day ahead of you all in the states.

After a good nights sleep in a Comfort Inn motel in Auckland, we were picked up by the owner of New Zealand Frontiers which hires (rents) campervans and went to his house where we enjoyed tea and cookies. After going over how the van works and some paperwork we unloaded all of our items into the campervan and left our empty bags with him. Note: The campervan runs on diesel (which cost about $3.00/gal US with exchange rate etc. figured in) and has a standard shift.

As we got into the RV, I (Jan) got in on the opposite side to drive and Cathy on the other side. We pulled out of the drive and started driving on the left side of the road - which felt wierd. Then it was learning how to drive 'by on-the-job training' thru Auckland (where 1/4 of all the people in New Zealand live). After stopping for many groceries and miscellaneous items we headed north and out of the big city. There are many holiday parks (RV parks) so finding a place for the night was not difficult and we found one with a view of the seashore at our back door.

Having survived driving one day, we set out to drive 200 kilometers (125 miles) north with a stop at Waitagi to see where the treaty between the British and the local natives was signed in 1840 (this is considered to be the start of New Zealand as a country). The roads in this section were very very winding, narrow in some places, and with road construction. Needless to say, we were very attentive on our drive (with Cathy helping by reminding me to drive closer to the center line and which lane to turn into (such as, when turning right you go into the far left lane). We will add additional driving info, signs, and incidents in future updates. Note: Without a GPS Navigation System provided to us, we are sure that we would be so lost by now that we could never find our way back to the USA.

For the 2nd night we camped just downstream from the Haruru Falls and enjoyed the sound of the falls during the night. After 2 days of touring, we decided to stay an extra day here to take a day of rest and get caught up on some sleep.

There are many different things here (such as the trees, birds, and stars) and we will add some of these to our future updates. This is now springtime here (like the 1st of May in the States) and the weather is quite nice - in the mid 60's F during the day and mid 40's F at night. It has been cloudy with some sunshine most of the time so far.

NZ word for the day: Tramping: Hiking

White Faced Heron

Entryway in Auckland Airport

Inside Meeting House at Watangi Treaty Centre

Ready To Go

We are packed up and are ready to go to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport to fly to New Zealand via Los Angeles. After arriving in Auckland we will pick up a small RV and go RVing in a campervan for 7 weeks around the North and South Islands with a side trip to Stewart Island. After touring New Zealand we fly on our 45th wedding anniversary to Sydney, Australia where we will travel by train and car in the Sydney, Brisbane, and Canberra areas for 2 weeks. After celebrating New Years Eve watching the fireworks in Sydney we will return back to Texas on the 4th of January.

You can follow our travels by checking this blog (journal) every few days and see our latest entries (the latest entry will be first). We will add entries with our travel info and pictures every couple of days when we have an Internet connection.