The Land of the Kiwis

Now we've already made it to New Zealand - after a delayed flight due to technical difficulties and a change of airplanes. We ended up sitting on the plane about 2 hours before taking off, then riding a bus and sitting at a new gate then settling into our second plane for the next hour to take-off for our 11 hour flight. We were a little restless and ready to go, but also glad to get dinner and get some rest. I know we all were suffering with jet lag yesterday, but we didn't have time to sleep or shower before we got started here. The North Shore Church of Christ is providing us all with host families in sets of 2's or 4's, but we went to a mall for several hours upon first arriving while they waited for the families to get home that evening. I know many people went to the movies or sat on the couches and benches drinking coffee and doing minor shopping for shampoo and such. (They had a K Mart in their mall) I took the chance to get a haircut after about 2 months of letting it grow out, and I nearly fell asleep while the lady was washing my hair.

Today we spent the day in downtown Auckland with a general idea of where some good shopping and the piers were. I spent most of the day with different people shopping around and having fun joking around with Casey, the 15 year old son of one of the families hosting us who was acting as our tourguide for the day. We were really sad that we hadn't gotten the chance to go watch the All Blacks play rugby while we were in Hong Kong, but their game was the same day we arrived. Many of us had hoped we'd be able to go. One day I'll get out and see a rugby game; those players are stout and intimidating!

Tomorrow we are going out to a beach, but it is still fairly chilly here - it's Springtime, going into Summer. I think I'll still brave it and test the water, but only enough to say I've done that on a black sand beach. Australia should be better beach weather.

I miss you all so much and love you more!!
Amy