Wednesday 27 February 2008

It was great having a later flight, because we could get ready at our leisure. We left home mid morning for the drive to the airport, via my uncle and aunt's house. They babysat our car for us. There was a taxi strike on but we had no trouble getting a taxi to the airport. We booked in and had only a short wait before boarding the aircraft. We had an hour's stopover in Melbourne - ideal for a comfort stop - before continuing onto Auckland. We arrived around 1 am but it was 2 am by the time we cleared customs and collected our bags. A quick taxi ride to our hotel room and we were asleep by 2.30 am.

Woke up around 9 am, showered etc and the hotel owner gave us a lift into Mangere Bridge where our friends live. Their house is on the edge of one of the harbours with a great walk trail that leads to the shops in one direction and a farm in the other.

We met Sanne on the driveway. It was so great to see her! The New Zealand lifestyle really suits her; she looks radiant. Sanne's mother-in-law Sina (sp?) and her travelling companion Nielserik were also staying with them. Luckily they have a huge house!

After we settled in and had morning tea, the 5 of us walked to the shops and had a look around before walking back and having lunch. It was lovely sitting on their back deck, the hum of the traffic in the background. Soon the kids all filed in from their day at school. I will only use their initials for obvious reasons - they are K (14), A (13), M1 (10) and M2 (6). It was so good to see them all again. Last time I saw them was in Australia 12 months ago when they were moving to New Zealand from Denmark. All were very frustrated with the communication difficulties. Only K could speak English. M1 in particular seemed a very frustrated little boy. They have all picked up the language complete with Kiwi accent and are now fluent. M1 is such a people person, no wonder he was so annoyed! I think some people have a flair for languages and their dad Leif can speak 7 languages so I suppose it was only natural they would learn!

That evening, we enjoyed a BBQ on the back deck and sat around until late chatting, catching up on the news and getting to know Sina and Nielserik.