Day 1 -- Feb 5/7 In transit to New Zealand

Our initial flight out of Kelowna was at a decent time of day (1:30) so we had a good sleep to start our long journey with. Thanks to Jeff for driving us.

Our only problems along the way were the inability of each airport to give us boarding passes for the next stages. The result of this was having to go to the booking desk each time to get it which was a real nuisance. Finally in LA they gave us the last two boarding passes at the same time. Another worrying glitch was the questions we kept getting about "where was our luggage". We'd explain then show our proof. Finally a guy in Vancouver "released" our luggage -- whatever that meant. But we still got the questions all along the line. It was with great relief to see the two bags on the carousel in Auckland!!

I slept about six hours on the thirteen hour leg from LA to Brisbane while Don had about two hours. So I felt like a human being when we arrived at 4 pm Sat (your Friday).

Margaret and Danny had a long wait for us as a huge number of planes disgorged their passengers all at once, ours being last.

We had supper outside on their new patio -- such a treat not to have to bundle up.

By the way, it is now Saturday. Skipped Friday completely when crossing the date line.

Day 2 -- Sun Feb 8

Don and I slept all night so we feel great today. We spent the morning getting ready for lunch -- Margaret and I making salads and Danny and Don out on errands for dessert and bread. Cousin Bev came all the way from Whitianga to see us (3 hours?) then her sister Wendie, husband Gary and daughter Melanie arrived for lunch. We had a great visit and so nice to see them again.Cloudy today but still warm enough for lunch outside.