Our New Zealand Trip

It was the trip of a lifetime. Mariah (age 9) and I spent two weeks in New Zealand, managing to see and do lots of interesting things. Yes, it was a long trip. We flew from Detroit to Los Angeles then on to Auckland and Christchurch. The longest leg of the journey was a 12 hour flight. We left on Saturday, Feb. 2 and arrived on Monday morning, Feb. 4th. Coming home took only about an hour -- but we did see the sun rise and set twice in one day. The International Date Line can really be interesting. Now that we are home, I finally figured out the formula: at this time of year New Zealand is six hours behind us and one day ahead. New Zealand is a nice destination right now for Americans because the exchange rate is so favorable: for $100 USD you will receive about $244 NZD. We found that for local things prices were fairly comparable (a meal at McDonald's costs the same as here, for example--making it really attractive to us), but imported things were expensive. And, yes, the water did go down the drain counterclockwise (anti-clockwise, they would say) down under! The links below tell our trip story in pictures and words. We hope you enjoy it and are inspired to travel there, too, someday!

Joan and Mariah

Anne Field's Weaving shop/Christchurch Guild
Ashford Handicrafts
South Island Road Trip
Pancake Rocks
West Coast
Buller River
Fleecewood
Shearing Shed
Ferry Crossing
Wairarapa Valley
Agrodome
Maori Villages
Auckland

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