We have not had great trip beginnings over the past several years. Each has, however, turned out to be absolutely wonderful in total. The same, I am certain, will be true this time.
We arrived at the Houston airport only to discover that the plane we were taking to L.A. originated in Denver and its record-breaking snowstorm. It was an hour and a half late arriving. The pilots made up some time in the air, but when we landed, we only had 40 minutes to catch our flight to New Zealand. Our arrival gate was at one end of LAX, and our departure gate at the other. We made a mad, two-mile sprint across the airport, all the while hearing broadcasts of the “last boarding call” for our flight. We quickly decided we were way too old for this kind of sustained pace. We just barely made the flight. We arrived on the bus to our terminal exhausted. Our luggage, however, didn’t make it at all.
The 15-1/2-hour flight wasn’t as difficult as we expected. We were able to doze a bit... probably because of all our exercise running from one terminal to the other! Towards the end of the flight, we both tried watching movies. David began watching The Hobbit trilogy. I revisited a portion of The Lord of the Rings. It seemed fitting since all six movies had been filmed in New Zealand. We wondered if we would see any of the film sites.
After our arrival to New Zealand and filling out the necessary paperwork for our lost luggage, we picked up our camper. It is high on amenities, but low on practicality. As an example, it has a microwave and refrigerator. We thought we would be “uptown” based on our truck camper… until we learned that both operate on electricity rather than propane. The cold in the fridge only lasts a day. Oh well, we can certainly use the space as storage. The rig itself will be an adjustment, but one we can definitely make. I’m just trying to keep David from using a hammer and saw on its innards to make it more livable!
We ended up spending much more time in Auckland than planned. It was stressful, to say the least. Driving around a new city always has its challenges, particularly since my navigator had a poor excuse for a map and was also missing his GPS. In addition, we are now driving on the wrong side of the road for us. Our new directions are a “hard left left” or a “far right right.” I’ve only almost wrecked us once when I looked right for oncoming traffic rather than left. I do hope the poor man I almost t-boned has forgiven me! Thank heavens my reflexes are still quick. Surprisingly, the most difficult part has been where on the road to drive. Both David and I seem to ride the white line on the left side of the vehicle rather than closer to the right. As a result, we have almost taken off several side mirrors and guard rails. I am happy to report that we are getting better.
After spending the night in a city campground, we were finally able to pick up our luggage around noon yesterday. We headed straight out of town. Our original plans were to meander through New Zealand’s geothermal corridor. Having lost a day because of the luggage, however, we have had to keep a steady pace, moving south. We have a ferry to catch on the 20th, which will take us to the south island.
New Zealand is a strange country for me. Its only native mammals are bats and sea mammals. Crazy! We are anxious to arrive on the south island and hope we may be able to see penguins and sea lions there. We will also see New Zealand’s Southern Alps (the snow-capped mountains where the beacons of Minis Tirith were lit in the Lord of the Rings).
We welcome you on this amazing adventures with us. What wonders await us this trip?
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