March 16th - Well, we're finally here. After years of talking about it and months of planning, we have arrived in Auckland on the first leg of our family's epic adventure in New Zealand and Australia. I think we can all safely say that the flight was better than we anticipated, but I have to tell you, after 14 hours, I was uncomfortably conscious of just how sensitive my tailbone could be. A big thumbs up to Air New Zealand, though - friendly flight attendants, a great entertainment selection and hobbits in their safety video. What else could you ask for?
Once we had arrived and retrieved our rental car, our first conundrum of the trip faced us head on. It's 5:30 a.m. and our room at the hotel will not be available until 2:00 p.m. What are four weary travellers to do in this situation? Obviously - find a quiet spot to park and sleep for a few hours! We drove into Auckland and made our way to the Domain, a large lovely park in the centre of the city. We parked fairly close to the National War Museum, which would, unbeknownst to us, become something of a "bete noire" as the day went on.
We left the Domain and went to Mission Bay to walk along the beach there. We had a lovely stroll and lunch, and filled with touristy zeal, we decided to drive to the One Tree Hill memorial and have a look around. Before I go on with this story, however, I should explain that they drive on the left here, which makes driving and navigating a bit tricky. Anyone who knows me knows that we came to the best arrangement possible - I drove while Pete navigated (otherwise, we'd still be lost). Auckland does many things well but street signs aren't one of them - they are somewhat sparse, to say the least. So it came as something of a surprise to us when, following two different routes, we ended up passing the War Museum two more times just trying to get to our destination (and no, it was not intentional). It was "European Vacation" all over again, minus the roundabout.
But we made it eventually. An early night is on the boards for all, and hopefully we can shake the jet lag.
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