Feb 12 - 14

An inauspicious beginning to our journey was a two hour flight delay out of Denver. So the four hour layover in LA proved to be a good thing.

The 14 hour flight to Sydney was pleasant, comfortable and uneventful. We both slept well for several hours – well, OK – I took drugs, but whatever…

We landed in Sydney with anther four hours layover which we pretty much used up chasing our luggage around. It didn’t get routed to Auckland so we needed to find it and check back in - sounds easier than it was actually - took us two hours. People are really nice here, though – friendly and helpful.

Next was a three hour flight to Auckland and back two tiem zones. We arrived at rush hour in Auckland – took us an hour and $100 NZ (70 ish US) to get to the hotel from the airport.

Now we have had a shower and a brief rest and are headed out to look around the town a little before dark and then go to dinner.

We ended up at a nice place called the Harborside – great food but service a little slow and we are sooo tired.

We got to our room and fell into bed – the mattress is about as tired as I am. The pillow broke Don’s fall. I lay here a few minutes and decided to write a while.

First impression – pretty harbor – but you know, a city is a city is a city and this one is pretty much a tourist trap. Tomorrow Don is going to go sailing on an America’s Cup sailing ship. I am going to tramp around the harbor and take photos.