Where has the time gone? Day 1 in New Zealand

First stamp in my passport! Working Holiday Visa in New Zealand

Sorry this has taken me so long to get published, I can't believe that I have already spent my first month in New Zealand. Lots has happened and I've been keeping a diary so I remember everything that has gone on, so I can finally blog!

I made it to Auckland after a long 24 hours of traveling, but it went well in my opinion. After a little bit of re-organizing of my 3 suitcases, I got them all down to 50 pounds, only having to leave a few things in Florida for Bryan to hopefully bring when he comes to New Zealand in March. My flights had no big delays or problems thankfully! I flew from Jacksonville to Charlotte to Los Angeles to Auckland. On the 12 hour flight from LAX to AKL, I probably got about 5 or 6 hours of sleep luckily, so was able to get my body in the right time zone right from the start. I didn't have any jet lag!!

All of my bags ready to go!

On the plane to my new adventure!

Landing in Los Angeles at night

Almost in New Zealand!

First sight of New Zealand! 

All my bags are here! (Had to get them all through customs on my own!)

After going through customs and having my passport stamped, I put my 3 bags on a cart and headed towards the next customs line. Here you had to declare what you were bringing in, such as food. I declared some candy and then put my bags through the x-ray scanners and was officially allowed entry into New Zealand! Andrea and Lucy (age 10) were there to pick me up. I got a water and we packed my bags into their big Toyota Land Cruiser and off we went!

The first stop was One Tree Hill, which is a big hill that people go up and has amazing views of the city. There are also sheep all over the hills of the park going up the hill. There seemed to be some tourists there as well as locals walking up it for their work outs.  It was so cool to see Auckland from up there. 

Auckland (you can see the Skytower)

Lucy & I

Awesome views of Auckland

We were then headed home, but passed by the girls' school, so Andrea pulled in to show me the parking garage. Well....little did she remember she had a storage pod on top of her car. All we heard was cracking as we were going under the gate into the garage. She started to reverse and scraped the drivers' side of the car on the entry poles. The gate into the garage was broken as well...oh no! Insurance will cover it, and the car should probably get fixed next week (hopefully). We stopped at a bakery for a yummy breakfast croissant and made it home. Andrea found their bunny dead right as we got out of the car. It was so sad, and it just felt like too many bad things were happening! I got my bags into the pool house, had a shower, and got my things together for Omaha, where the rest of the family was up at the beach during the summer holiday. On the way out of town we stopped at a store to get a new duvet for the pool house, and some other things that they needed. We also went over to the mall where I got my iPhone switched to a NZ number and put on a pre-pay plan and had a quick lunch. Then we headed to Omaha to be with the rest of the family! 

I got a warm welcome from everyone and we headed down to the beach for a swim. OK - the water here is freezing compared to Cuba...it was quite a shock. It was fun though, but didn't last long! Back at the house the Wilson family came over for dinner, and ended up staying with us at the house for 2 nights on their way back home from their holiday. It was quite cramped, but it was fun having their family there, they have a baby, ~9 year old boy, and ~12 year old girl. Poppy, Hannah's friend was also staying in Omaha with us. We had dinner, champagne, and some chocolate cake that Lucy had made for my arrival! 

So that was day ONE in New Zealand....what a day! Lots happened, I was so happy to arrive, and am looking forward to the rest of the year with the Haddens! 

I'll do posts soon of week by week wrap-ups! Omaha didn't have internet access, so that is why I wasn't able to blog, and since being in Auckland we've been quite busy with the kids going back to school! 

xoxo