Made it to Auckland

Leaving Tahiti behind, where once again I was almost left behind. My boarding pass didn’t pass muster again, while Doug’s did. Once again, someone disappeared with my passport and boarding pass. After a long wait, they let me board.

5 more hours to New Zealand and we sighted land, flying directly over Onetangi beach on Waiheke Island. (We’ll visit Waiheke again at the end of our trip.) Having determined that Doug had not been incarcerated recently, (we both should have been wearing our glasses when we answered those questions!) New Zealand happily greeted us. Being uber-cautious, we declared our hiking shoes (sneakers), hiking poles, and protein bars at the border. Told them my hiking pole hadn’t seen anything but snow recently. Given that we had no forbidden fruit on us, and the sniffer dogs didn’t try to cosy up to us, we were in!

Onward to the Hilton on the wharf in downtown Auckland (thanks to a ton of Hilton Honors points). A dip in the pool, a walk about town, some drinks and snacks at the lovely hotel bar watching the boats come and go. And lots of sleep. Jet lag conquered.Read more