Auckland

After a year of paperwork and planning we are finally here! We arrived in Auckland Sunday morning after a 14 hour direct flight from Vancouver. As we are staying for awhile we shipped two mountain bikes, all our camping gear and our clothes which totalled 7 bags and made getting around the airport difficult. Bree was a great help and was responsible for pushing one of the luggage carts by herself. We have already bought a car (a 1998 Subaru Forester), got a phone, set up our banking and bought Bree a bike.

Today we had to wait for the car to be cleaned and all the paperwork completed so we took Bree to Rainbows End Amusement Park which is very close to our campsite. There was a one ride which is called the “fear fall” and you drop 18 stories at 82 km/hr.  The height restriction for this ride as well as the corkscrew roller coaster was 120cm and unbelievably Bree measured in right on the line. So the first ride of the day was a free fall and I think she handled it better than I did! We spent 5 hours at the park and went on every single ride – I am exhausted.

Tonight we are just loading up the car with our gear – amazing how much we can fit in. Many of the people at the campsite here are heading home and so we have already been given 4 folding chairs, a folding table and an umbrella with a stand. We heading out to Rotorua tomorrow and are excited to finally see some of the country. We will take the next few days to travel down to Palmerston North and then get set-up at our place there.