In case you blinked, we spent two fun-filled weeks in New Zealand and only just got back. Our visit coincided with the World Cup rugby which would have been great had we given a "rat's arse" about football - but we don't. Here's our story (it's going to take a few posts to get it all out).
We woke up early enough and got to the airport on time but getting through customs was difficult because I got "randomly selected for special treatment and got patted down all over - and I mean ALL over, by an extra friendly airport dude. The flight was good but we only had middle seats - so no window. The kids mostly behaved on the flight too because there were movies and games built into the seats. Tristan managed to crash his player a couple of times but that's only to be expected.
Getting out at NZ was fun. We were passing through their "chatty" security people when Kaelan got bored and raided our hand luggage for his camera and started taking photos. The officials had to take the camera and go through all the photos (and delete the airport ones) before we could proceed. Even better, Tristan kept reminding Kaelan loudly and sternly throughout the remainder of the trip... "Remember Kaelan... no photos!".
We waited for ages for our bags and I think Joey was panicking a bit until she noticed some lonely bags circling on a carousel at the far end of the airport.
Next up we got stopped at customs because the security guys had been so distracted that they filled the forms out wrong. We had to wait until someone came and sorted it out. Then, it was one more security scan, the highlight of which was the fact that Tristan got to see an X-ray of his bear. It definitely needs more stuffing.
Joanne's auntie Louise met us at the airport, which was lucky because it was gridlocked due to the arrival of the Tongan football supporters and the hire car place couldn't get a vehicle to us. We got the GPS (satnav) out and it was working well but the traffic here was so slow that it asked us if we wanted to switch to pedestrian mode.
Although we arrived at 2:30pm, it took us until 5pm to get out of the airport car park and Joanne managed to run a red light too - but that was ok because the New Zealanders have "one green per car lights" which are a silly idea anyway.
We finally got to Joanne's uncle Chris' place at about 7.30 but couldn't stay more than a few minutes because we'd already arranged to have dinner with Sarah Jane and Jasmine whom we only knew from Facebook. By the time we got to her place, got the formalities done (it's so weird meeting digital people in real life) and found a place to eat it was about 9pm (NZ time).
The place was called Ghengy's and you choose your own meats, toppings (mushrooms, shoots, tomatoes etc) and sauces and oils then give it to the cook to fry-up. Our first attempts were pretty meagre but we got better. I think Kaelan sneezed on the oils and sauces though - so cue the first of many discussions about hygiene in smorgasbord places (we don't go to them in Australia). Dessert was great. They make pancakes and you get to decorate them with your choice of toppings. The kids (and I) loved it.
By the end of the night, Kaelan was very tired and actually laid down on the floor in the resturant. Luckily we were the only ones there. Tristan was still perky though and was running around with bear stuffed inside his jumper.
Sadly we forgot to get a photo of us and the boys with Sarah Jane and Jasmine (for comparison when a 20+ year old Jasmine visits us in Australia one day?). Oh we'll. I guess we'll have to make another trip sooner than expected.
I don't remember much of the hotel because we all collapsed and slept pretty soon after arriving and we had to be back at Chris' place by 9.30am (7.30 our time). It was going to be a bleary-eyed morning.
We also discovered in the morning that Kaelan had left his car door open but luckily, all was ok.
Poor Kaelan (he got picked on a lot in this post.... I'm sure we'll even things up a bit in later posts)
Stay tuned for part 2.
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