Day 13: Brisbane, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand

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Day 13 (7/22/02): Brisbane, Australia-Auckland, New Zealand

We made it to the airport and said our good byes to Jonathan. Lots of pictures were taken with him in his EF shirt. We even met Jonno's girlfriend Pauline. The rest of the morning was spent buying duty free and getting rid of the Aussie money. Some people exchanged their Australian money for New Zealand dollars despite our warnings. They got an almost 1:1 exchange rate.


We boarded the plane around 12:00 noon and set in for a three hour trip. The time change from Australia to New Zealand is two hours later in the day. The movie Big Fat Liar was played and we had a braised lamb meal for lunch.


We arrived at Auckland and had to pass through customs. We had a few people in our group who had a hard time because of fruit or beef jerky that they had with them. Even the didgeridoos from Australia were in question. There are no snakes or similar pests in New Zealand and so they are very strict to keep it that way. Some people had to leave their stuff at the airport until they left for the U.S.


We noticed how much greener it was in New Zealand. The temperature was about 60 degrees Fahrenheit when we arrived. Julie, our tour director, met us at the airport. She said that the country had gone through six straight weeks of rain. The ground was quite saturated. It did start to rain on us when we got to our overnight stay, the Quality Hotel. It was in the middle of the suburbs and since all the shops were closed by 5:00, there was not a lot to do.

Our New Zealand tour guide Julia



The kids either stayed in for the hotel buffet (which was quite good) or they ordered pizza from Pizza Hut. Since we were all on the same floor for a change, the kids went to each other's rooms and stayed up late, thanks to the time change.

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