G’day mates!
We finally made it Down Under! We FINALLY met up with each other in LAX’s Terminal 3 (at some point…some people may have misconnected in Atlanta due to weather…not saying who, just that it wouldn’t have been BRAD…) around 6 PM.
While waiting for our flight, we got some grub on as well as made a few last minute phone calls, got our last bits of work done, and chilled, but we were excited to get on our way.
Then we boarded Virgin Australia’s VH-VOZ for our 15 hour journey across the Pacfic (really 14:28). Surprisingly, the time past by pretty quickly thanks to all of the movies, TV shows, games, eating, talking, and sleeping we were able to accomplish while winging across the dark Pacific (it really was dark all the way until about an hour before landing). Right before landing we were treated to an AWESOME view of Sydney Harbour and the Opera House thanks to the standard terminal area route we were on in Sydney.
We made our way to the transfer desk, where after a bit of time (since it was 6:30 in the morning and no one was there!) we were able to snag our boarding passes for our flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We killed time in the Sydney Airport exchanging money, checking out the airport, and talking with folks back in the States.
After three hours or so of waiting we finally boarded Air New Zealand’s ZK-NCL for our seemingly quick 2 hour and 48 minute flight across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand.
We rented our car, a brand new Toyota Highlander with 8 km on the odometer and headed off to our hotel. Later in the evening we freshened up and checked out the Sky Tower for some 360 degree views of Auckland. Then we ate some super food and took in even more spectacular views of sunset at Orbit, a revolving restaurant on the 51st story (600+ feet in the air) of the Sky Tower.
Following dinner, we explored Sky City including the lobby and the casino where Brad donated NZ$5 to the New Zealand gambling industry. Then we headed back to our hotel through the maze of Auckland streets (thanks to some “works” = construction going on) and CRASHED since it was after 11 PM.