Hello New Zealand!

And so our adventures begin again. Unfortunately the snow arrived before we left. Fortunately, we left before it got _really_ bad. We left a wee bit before 8am on Sunday 28th November for a 1315 flight from Glasgow, which seemed ridiculously early, but given the weather, seemed a good idea in case there were any accidents on the M8. We were fairly confident that the motorway would be cleared though. That confidence was, however, misplaced. The carriageways were completely covered in fairly thick snow, with only one lane clear from the passing traffic for most of it. Worse still, despite that one lane being pretty clear, the snow around it scared many drivers into driving at about 30mph. Fortunately that day the lorry which crashed went off the side of the motorway, unlike the one the next day which jack-knifed across the carriageway and closed the motorway (you'd think they'd have learnt.....).

So, we get to the airport VERY early, but relieved to be there in one piece. We see the flight is delayed by an hour (making our arrival all the earlier!), but think that's not too bad. Unfortunately, although the delay was caused by the late departure of the incoming flight, that hour meant that, by the time the flight was due to arrive, the runway was closed due to the snow, so it was diverted to Prestwick! But ok, we can live with that. Then it was announced that the crew were over hours, so the crew taking us to Dubai were being taken to Prestwick to get the plane (could they not have foreseen that and sent them earlier??). New departure time 1945. Ho hum. So we got a beer.

We hear the plane is on its way, hurray we think. Then it took over an hour to land - from Prestwick to Glasgow - where did they go?? Eventually they announce boarding, but that grinds to a halt when it's announced the auxiliary power unit on the plane had failed. It was eventually fixed and on we went. Then we sat on the tarmac for ages. After a while we were told that they had had trouble starting the engines, and by the time they had fixed the problem, there was ice on the wings so they had had to send for the de-icer again! "One of those days" doesn't really do it justice. So we had faced a 9 hour delay before we'd even taken off! We missed out on our first night in Dubai, so by the time we got there we didn't have the energy for any sightseeing (it was VERY wierd to be walking around in 30+ degree heat having left the thick snow).

The flight from Dubai was late leaving too (although nothing in comparison to the previous one) so we arrived in Auckland in time for rush hour. Fortunately we had a transfer arranged so didn't have to deal with driving through that whilst exhausted. We went out for some food and beer, but went back fairly early on as Andy actually dozed off in the bar!

Thursday morning we went out for a run along the harbour and waterfront to try to shake off the cobwebs - slow and quite hard going but definitely worth it. We picked up our hire car and headed north. We took the more scenic route to start with (yes, deliberately!) and stopped at a wee shopping outlet place to look for something to cover our belongings with as our Subaru Legacy has no boot cover..... There was a liquor store there, so we went in to see how much their beer is as it is extortionate in the pubs. There didn't seem to be much beer, so we asked where we could get some, and were directed to the shops' walk in chiller!! Beer heaven :o) We were, however, quite restrained due to an already full boot - thank goodness for small mercies!

Next stop Waipu - the first Scottish settlement. This now explains the picture at the top - we didn't expect to see a Gaelic welcome sign over here! The amount of tartan around is quite amusing. With saltires and Scottish names all around and even a tartan rug on our bed we feel quite at home. Well, except for the warm weather instead of 16 inches of snow (hee hee - sorry folks). There is a lovely beach nearby so we went back there after leaving our stuff in the hostel and walked along the beach in shorts and t-shirts.... (sorry again).

Tomorrow we continue to head north.