Arrived!

Just a quick post to say that we have made it to Auckland, more or less in one piece. The flight from San Fran was a relative breeze. Even getting through security in the States was relatively painless. Air New Zealand proved to be a fantastic airline with excellent, friendly help from the gate at SFO to the terminal in Auckland. It was a trip to bypass the looooong line for visitors at immigration and enter the "NZ passport holders- NZ residents" line instead. We are really, truly official NZ residents now. Cool, eh?

Dare I say it but really the trip was relatively snafu-free. The exceptions were Mr W's 2+hour meltdown on the plane (but met with many smiles and friendly "it's okay! This happens!" from the flight crew) and the logistics of hauling our massive amount of luggage, especially when we picked it up in Auckland. We really needed to grow a few more arms for this part of our adventure.

Once we reached NZ customs, we also had a bit of problem with our fly fishing gear as they have recently banned any felt-soled fishing boots and we obviously weren't aware (so any fly fisherpeople visiting NZ, take note!). We had three pairs of boots/shoes which had to either be fumigated and mailed to us at our expense (and not used while here in NZ) or we had to just toss the suckers in the garbage. So bye bye boots. Mikey was not happy. Being the honest folk we are also meant that we had to search through various bags to find a pair of hiking boots that have not been on a hike in 3 years but nevertheless have to be inspected. This diligence on the part of the agriculture ministry is to insure that no foreign organisms threaten the native flora and fauna here in NZ .

After a few more tantrums and crying fits for a lack of sleep (both kids and parents!), we arrived at our hotel which graciously let us into our room at about 7 am NZ time. Off to nap and decompress.....more later!