OMG, we live in New Zealand now

Well it worked out just as we planned a while ago – we packed up a bunch of stuff and left from Cleveland on Thursday afternoon, landed in LA for a while, took another plane 14 hours across the Pacific to Sydney, Australia, had some breakfast there, brushed our teeth and hair, and looked at all of the zillions of versions of Toblerone in the Duty-Free shops, and then got on another plane and headed back across the Tasman Sea to Auckland. And now we’re here. It shouldn’t seem like much of a surprise, but it IS kind of surprising to walk around and realize that’s where we are. I guess it’s just that so much planning went into this, maybe it didn’t occur to me that it would one day actually happen. Well, whatever – it’s very cool here and we’re happy to be here safe and sound. It took nearly 32 hours and everybody did just great.

We’re staying the first few days at a hotel downtown because our house needs a few things (forks, towels, sheets, a TV, plates, tables, a toaster) before we can live there. We saw it for the first time today. It’s just crazy awesome. Way up high on a cliff overlooking the water –Karaka Bay to be precise. It’s in a suburb of Auckland called Glendowie. We’ll buy a bunch of stuff tomorrow (Monday in these parts) and move in tomorrow or Tuesday.

Some random things we’ve noticed so far: the sun is like SUPER bright here!!! The kids are required to wear hats as part of their school uniform and my friend Andrea who’s from here says that there’s a hole in the ozone over NZ. I believe her! It’s like there’s two suns down here. Also, they put eggs in or on EVERYthing – usually poached. Sometimes there are small fish involved. 3. I’m definitely nervous about getting into a car and driving on the left side of the road and negotiating parking lots and roundabouts. And sitting on the left side of the car while Dennis drives on the left side of the road seems to make me a bit queasy. I hope this goes away. And one last random thing: it’s winter here. I should say “winter.” I saw a woman in a down-filled hip-length parka. These people really think this is winter! I would wear my down-filled hip-length parka when it’s below 20, maybe. Trey is wearing shorts and I am wearing flip flops and capri jeans. It’s 58 degrees. I can’t believe they think this is winter. That’s awesome.

These photos are from a walk downtown, a visit to the kids' school, and the beach down below the house. Also, breakfast this morning. Though I do not enjoy food photography all that much, I really enjoy photographing our meals! :O)

Hope all is well with everyone. Xoxo, K.