Both Adam and I were up VERY late the night before our flight to New Zealand. I distinctly remember seeing 3:05am on my bedside clock before finally drifting off. The alarm went off at 5:50am and my wonderful Mum was due to come and drive us to the airport at 6:50am. The flight went well, we were booked in as a Qantas flight but were actually flying LAN so the kids got their first exposure to bi-lingual announcements and signage. I was only mildly uncomfortable on the plane, I needed a seat belt extension but with Caitlin as my seating partner and the arm rest partially raised there was plenty of room, I was even able to put the tray all the way down.

We arrived in Auckland at about 4pm on Saturday, bought a SIM card for the phone/modem (priorities, you see), picked up the hire car and headed off to Hamilton.

We stayed at a motel with an indoor heated pool, so Caitlin and Tom went for a swim while Adam, David and I played half a game of Killer Bunnies (somewhat hampered by extreme tiredness and most of the dice having been left at home). For dinner we found a very nice Indian restaurant and did our best not to fall asleep at the table. Getting going the next morning was a massive effort, there was snoozing at the breakfast table.

Waitomo Glowworm Cave boat tour

After the cave tour we drove to New Plymouth where we had some of the best fish and chips ever for dinner at Seafood on the Beach, stayed the night at the Copthorne Hotel and then had breakfast the next morning at a cafe called Chaos, which was quirky and friendly and delicious!

After breakfast we were back on the road and heading for Mt Taranaki/Egmont

Back on the road again heading for Wellington. In Stratford we caught the tail end of the glockenspiel clocktower playing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, found a supermarket and had lunch in a park. In Wanganui we stopped for long enough to find a lookout and look at the view.

In Wellington we are staying in a 3 bedroom serviced apartment and Caitlin is very glad to be sleeping in a proper bed instead of a roll-away or sofa bed.

Today we took a ferry ride out to Matiu/Somes Island for a picnic lunch and a walk around the island.