Wow! It's been a crazy day/days! Our Auckland flight didn't leave til 8 at night so we got to spend some more time with our lovely Vancouver tour guides Leslie & Dave.Went for brunch at one of their favorite spots, The Locus. Very cool. They also took us to the Museum of Anthropology,  A beautiful Japanese garden and even a really quick run down a steep path to the beach. We really enjoyed our time with them!

The Flight

We got to the airport nice and early (probably because I was super paranoid about being late for our flight) and had some time to relax a bit before boarding. Really big plane and quite crowded too. The plane's entertainment system was excellent - I don't think we need to bring so many books and things to entertain ourselves on the flight. It was very hard to sleep there however. There wasn't a lot of leg room and the seats felt a bit hard after a while. Geoff, Sam & I managed to sleep a bit but poor Catriona didn't really get any sleep at all. Our flight did get in early- half 4 in the morning- but as we had to wait quite a while for our hotel it didn't help too much. One of the first Kiwi's we met in customs was really nice. We said we were from Manitoba and he asked if we were from Winnipeg. Turns out he was there a while ago. Small world eh?


First day in Auckland

Although we are sleep deprived and wandering around in the dark at first, its been really nice here. It's true that they do make very good coffee here. The people here are very friendly and helpful.We went for a walk to a park to kill some time before the Maritime Museum opened. Love the trees!
Museum was interesting too and we also took the harbour cruise on a sailing ship. Definitely worth the extra money. The ship relies a lot on volunteers who were great. They had lots of interesting stories and information. You can help raise the sails or just sit and watch.  It might be winter here but it feels quite warm so far.