After years of planning, we arrived safely in this gorgeous place!
It was a long trip here highlighted with a few blips only this family can swing (no pun intended!): Noah punched Jack at the Portland airport, hitting his hip bone and as a result broke his hand (a boxer's fracture for those in the know!), Mom picked us up to take us for dinner at the San Francisco airport and within 8 miles of leaving the airport on a VERY busy 5 lane highway at rush hour we got a flat tire, had a pull over on a very narrow shoulder and wait for tow truck to come help us with tire change (so lucky the highway patrol man came up behind us!) and finally once we were finally on the Air NZ plane ( a huge 747, double decker bird!) the AC was not working, and after an hour of sitting in 40 degree C heat ( you do the conversion-it is HOT that is all I know!) they took us all off the plane for an hour to cool it by opening all the doors, then eventually got us back on, for a total 2 hour delay at 1130pm.
Once airborne we left that chaos behind, slept like babies and awoke in this emerald country!
(Ok, one more blip I almost forgot: when we got to customs, and they asked if we really had anything on the list of no-no items to declare, I suddenly recalled the homemade beef jerky my neighbor Andi had given us the morning of departure. The agent's eyes widened, the rest of the agents suddenly got very quiet, I got pulled over to the bad-girl desk, and had to be reminded in a very paternalistic way that the declaration sheet is a binding legal document and I must always declare all beef jerky. He graciously did not fine me the $400, but told me I HAD BEEN WARNED!!! Thanks Mr. Customs Agent. That $400 would have bummed my high for sure. Otherwise we managed the 5 bikes and 8 duffles through customs and onto Tauranga with ease.
Becky Gardiner (clinic manager at my new job) and her wonderful family met us at the sweet little airport and escorted us to our new home. Can I tell you how excited I was to lay down on a real bed? The home is delightful, 3 bedroom, 1 bath, big scale down from what we are used to, i.e. boys are sharing a room again, small yard and nice deck out front, good storage for the beach toys we are bound to acquire! There will be items to find like bookshelves and desks, (Lynn, can you start looking on Trade Me for the items needed? NZ's Craigs list! :) ) It seems like a great neighborhood with lots of kids, 3 blocks from Maggie's school and a few more to the boys'. All within easy bike ride or walk. SO glad we brought our bikes!!
We are literally 2 blocks from the most amazing long white sandy beach that is hailed for great surfing. Maggie and I watched our first sunrise yesterday as we collected fantastic shells and took photos of the new flowers. It is Spring here so the magnolia trees are just in bloom!
About 2 km north up the road/beach is Mount Maunganui (elev. approx 300 m) namesake of this town. Its an old volcano that terminates the peninsula we are on. great hiking and walking there. At it's base lie salt water hot springs, developed into pools both for lap swimming and relaxing. Reminds me of those pools in British Columbia, yet much closer to home here!!!
Ventured out to the mall yesterday for bedding and cell phones (yes, Isaac and Max, the boys finally got their own phones!) which meant driving on left side of road, a bit strange, requires lots of attention, but doable. Can I just tell you how nice and helpful everyone is? Just so lovely! At least so far, as long we are willing to ask.
Other new things: life is expensive here! Food esp. People seem very active, lots of sports complexes and folks out moving, NICE! Rugby is huge and cricket season is about to begin. They love their Team NZ and hope that Oracle gets sunk in this America's Cup!
Grocery stores have way less variety, thank goodness, but all in all, easy to feel right at home except for the accent, which, despite having to ask people to repeat themselves multiple times, is quite nice! Totally different night sky/constellations here, so cool! And realized today that the sun follows the northern sky line and shadows fall to the South. How cool!!
Dawn is breaking and I will venture out for a beach walk, the first of many I assume.
Despite all the wonder here, there is a longing for what and those that are familiar. I am missing my "peeps", hard to know I will not see you for some time, but we will have Skype up and running soon to aid with that. All in all, a safe landing, great first 24 hours, so grateful to be here!
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