Celebrating Christmas

Devonport, NZ

We definitely hit the ground running upon arrival.  Getting a couple really good nights of sleep made a world of difference to our busy schedule. The jetlag hasn't been bad at all.  However, the days are already becoming a bit of a blur so suffice to say, some initial highlights over the last 5 days include:

1) taking the ferry to Devonport;  2) two nights of BBQs with Ben's colleagues - including spectacular views of the ocean; 3) some last minute Christmas shopping; 4) a Christmas nativity and carol service; 5) a traditional lamb roast on Christmas Eve; 6) two Dyson-family events (Christmas day lunch and a boxing day picnic) and;7) a trip to the emergency room.

The kids were obviously extremely excited on Christmas Eve with the anticipation of Santa making his way to NZ first, before anywhere else!  It was a little strange for us to be celebrating Christmas knowing that our families in England and Canada were a day behind us.  But the beauty of Skype brought everyone together at some point over the course of 48 hours, which was pretty cool.

After Christmas morning, we went over to meet some (of the many) Dyson family members.  Ben's nephew hosted a great Christmas day lunch - BBQ style!  It was great fun and Sofia even got to get in their not-so-hot tub!  We even managed to make it to the beach afterwards. Christmas spilled over into boxing day with more fun with the Dyson clan, picnic style (with sheep and all!). Of course, there was a little drama that day with Lily being taken to the hospital (via ambulance) after falling off the zip-line.  We were scared she'd cracked a rib, but thankfully this wasn't the case.  Still she was (and still is) very sore and bruised. 
 

Auckland

View of Auckland City Centre, from Davenport

View - Davenport

Ben & Jake

Yet another gorgeous view!

View from Ben's colleague's gorgeous home...

 

Oh Christmas Tree!

Cheers!!

For Santa and his reindeer...

Christmas Day BBQ/Lunch

Hot tubbin' on Christmas Day!

Hitting the beach - Christmas Day 2011

Picnic with the sheep - Boxing Day

We are now more or less packed and ready to head south.  Our plan is to get to Wellington by Friday.  We'll take the ferry to the south island and spend the next 3 to 4 weeks there.

Getting Here and First Impressions

We are here!!  After one of the craziest months of our lives, we got our house in some semblance of order for our tenant and raced out the door.  Thanks to Rachida, we got ourselves and our mass of suitcases to the airport!  And surprisingly we made it with only a few minor losses - a bag of sausage rolls, neck roll and Sofia's booster seat.  Oh yeah, and the 20th December - Jake just reminded me we lost most of that day too!  All our flights were on time, the flight attendants were outstanding and LAX... well, LAX was one big gong show and general disappointment.  I expected a lot of bling and the likes of Brangelina & family to walk by...

Sofia @ Charlotte airport

Sofia in LAX

Chili's in LAX

My first impression of NZ was INCREDIBLY positive.  When we arrived, we were met with a friendliness rivaled only by the cowboy/cowgirl greeters of the Calgary airport.  Everything was so easy - we sailed through customs and immigration and found Ben waiting for us - no crowds, no chaos - it made it so much easier after such a long journey.  To quote Ben "no drama"!

WELCOME TO AUCKLAND, NZ!

We took a walk in the Dyson's neighbourhood.  We walked by the school the kids are going to attend and walked to a nearby beach.  It's gorgeous and tropical here.  Ben gave us a lesson on the vegetation etc... but apart from the lemon trees, I can't remember much!  Speaking of lemon trees - we pulled a lemon off the tree in their garden for dinner.  And Mom - they even have a lime tree for your gin and tonics!!  Sweet.  Love it here already...

Dyson home

Lily & Jake

Pohutukawa flowers - also known as the NZ Christmas Tree

Again... the NZ Christmas Tree

A brief synopsis: 
Our journey to New Zealand begins on December 19th, 2011.  Our route involves flying east to Charlotte, N.C. only to turn around and go west to Los Angeles. From L.A. we will catch a direct flight to Auckland, NZ.  It will be a tiring journey, but well worth it!  After 4+ months in NZ, we will leave for the Gold Coast in Australia.  The plan is to spend a couple weeks in the Gold Coast area before working our way to Melbourne.  On June 2, we will fly to England to enjoy a lovely English summer!  Our adventure will end on August 2 when we depart from London Heathrow and return to the heat and humidity of Tennessee.  It will be interesting to see how we feel upon arriving home that night, after 7 months away...