What a difference a day makes...

Slight delay in service - darn internet, but we wrote this on our first day here...

Made it. And with surprisingly little trauma it must be said. Visions of ejecting children from Boeing 777 mid flight were entirely unfounded - they were both absolute stars. Reuben particularly enjoyed eating sausages for breakfast, still in his PJs and whilst watching Bob the Builder - his idea of toddler heaven. Tilly charmed everyone, and certainly helped getting passed through all the security checks quickly.


So we've had one brief explore to the nearest beach - white sand (with a little black for good measure), shells, gentle lapping waves and a good ice cream shop come patisserie. The beaches here are on the Pacific coast and there's great views over the barrier Islands, although Reuben's a little disappointed that there's not still smoke billowing out the top of them in true volcanic fashion.

The strangest thing is that it really doesn't feel all that far from home at the moment. However, the autumn leaves in the trees (and the number of palm trees) does give it away slightly. I'm sure as the smaller, more day to day differences become apparent then the 'foreignness' will become more obvious.
The 'Bach' (holiday home) is very nice, although re-enforces Reuben's idea of everything being upside down and back to front, as the bedrooms are down stairs and living area up. However, it does indeed have a cow rug as seen in the photos and lots of children's toys and books. Reuben has learnt (the hard way) that you can't run through a close patio door, although thankfully for his dignity neither of us witnessed him running nose first into it and bouncing onto his bottom - it might have made offering suitably sincere sympathy harder if we had.

The natives are very friendly, security people opened passages through the zig-zaggy queuing bits at the airport when they saw us coming, the airport transfer guy gave us a running tour of Auckland as we came through, as well as lots of advice on where to get second hand cars etc..., and the ice cream shop ladies gave me extra ice cream after I had to run to the next bay to find a cash point after the cards wouldn't work in their machine for some reason.

Internet issues now sorted out, so more regular updates should be forth coming.

Love to all
DHR&M