Here on the ground

Friday (Jan 13th) at 12noon we arrived at Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. and checked our bags through to New Zealand. After a 5 hour flight, we landed at LAX. Sara and I took a nice long walk around the LA airport before grabbing a quick snack and climbing on board the place to New Zealand. The plane was huge (a Boeing 747-400 - for those who want to know (TONY!)). Sara and I each had a window seat in row 47. The flight was long, about 12 hours, but we greatly enjoyed talking to all the various people sitting around us.

At 5:15 AM, Jan 15th, we finally landed in Aukland, New Zealand. It took about 45 minutes to get through customs, but once we were outside we found Christine waiting for us with a big smile on her face (even though she had to drag herself out of bed at 4:50 AM this morning). Lucky for us we have such a great friend. The first thing we did, upon our arrival, was hit the grocery store. We picked up some breakfast, food for this afternoon's BBQ (at Christine's with her Kiwi friends) and withdrew some New Zealand dollars ($1 US = approx. $1.44 NZ). Now, we are spending the morning relaxing in Christine's beautiful house and planning our travels for the upcoming week.

Best wishes to everyone back home in the states.