Haere Mai (welcome) to a taste of New Zealand in words and photos. The plane ride was something else. I'm used to travelling overseas but this was more than I bargained for. After 2 videos and a chicken meal I arrived at Los Angeles Airport (LAX). Because 3 planes, all from New Zealand, were simultaneously disembarking and passengers were simultaneously trying to get on board by the same access corridor, confusion reigned at the boarding area and I appeared to be the only one stopped getting on the plane. After a nervous wait while computers were checked, I was finally off on the last leg of the journey. When I had my fill of more chicken dinners and 3 more videos and upon landing at Auckland airport, I truely felt I could lay a dozen eggs on the tarmac no problem.I had arrived.

In my mind my itinerary was all mapped out however when I met relatives they inquired how much time I had. Two weeks, I said. Then I proceeded to tell them how I was going to drive from the North Island down to the car ferry at Wellington, take the ferry across Cook Strait, drive down and up the South Island and back to the North island in time to have a cuppa! After the laughter died down, I was made aware of some native facts .i.e. they don't have 16 lane highways or travel at a leisurely 110 mph on the roads, it had rained storms the whole winter so instead of getting snow they got drenched for 3 months and local flooding on the West coast of the South Island was at an all time high. If I encountered a closed road I'd probably have to backtrack about 50 to 70 miles for a detour. Suddenly my carefully laid plans evapourated before my mind. 'You should have taken a month off work to come down and see the place properly'. My reply ,ok where's the nearset bank so I can rob it.

It was finally decided ,in the interests of sanity, to have me get an 'island hopper' flight from the North island to Christchurch, the largest city, in the South Island and drive around there and do the same on the North Island. Hey I was on a shoestring, remember, but the flight worked out against my original plan.