New Zealand

New Zealand - Intro
===================

We just returned last night from our longest holiday as a family to New Zealand.
We had a wonderful time and the experience was awesome.
I am eager to write as detailed as I can as this would be the first holiday the girls can probably recall so I want them to read it several years from now and they should bring "great memories" of holidays in their childhood.

Very often we end up taking several pictures during a holiday and we look over them may be for a season. Earlier days when we were taking prints we would take a look or two and they finally get into an album and stay there untouched unless some relative or acquaintance shows some interest ...then we pull it out...yet we will hardly have detailed memories....this is true for me...and I am sure for most people..and in this digital age we view them a few times on the computer screen and there it goes to one folder which is untouched in our hard disk..for several years to come.....Like if someone asked me today what we did in Sydney for a holiday 2 years ago... I would not have much to say.(I wish I had blogged about it)...even if I could manage to pull out the photos ....hence blogging I think gives me a greater chance of recalling and reliving the great experience one goes through in life.It also gives me the convenience of answering a friend who enquires " what did you do in New Zealand" " just check out my blog" is an easier and I think more helpful answer.

So this detailed account of would be written as a journal for my family to recall our great experience....needless to say if you are planning a trip to New Zealand it will give you great pointers things to be done and may be some things not worth the time and effort.

March 27th Thursday
===================
All set to take the longest flight we have taken as a family.
I was apprehensive it was an 11 hour flight .....also it would be the first time the entire holiday we would be driving on our own....I did a lot of planning as to what we should do and what we should cover each day....

The countries the girls had been to before are India, Singapore, SriLanka,Malaysia,Brunei,Japan,Hong Kong and Taiwan.

So New Zealand would be their ninth country they are visitng.And they were notably excited as we had a family from New Zealand as our neighbours for a brief period .Also Tanya had a close friend from Australia and Riona's Year 1 teacher is from Australia too...so they knew they are going to some faraway land which is distincly different from Asia where they had lived their life so far. And sure they were excited to have English spoken and written everywhere...

So we boarded the flight by 10 PM from Taoyuan International Airport.
Much of the flight both Sedj and kids slept which was really good...I did catch some sleep too...the flight was full...
We arrived at Auckland about 2:30 PM local time. Th girls were happy eating at McDonalds at the airport.

We picked up the car from car rental company along with a GPS .....we also exchanged some currency to New Zealand Dollars...

We could clearly feel the difference in pace of life.

Every one looked relaxed and laid back....they were people just sitting outside the departure lobby just relaxing and no hurry to leave or go anywhere.

We also saw two girls who held a big banner saying " Welcome Grandma"....truly relaxing atmosphere.

We called on an Indian family we were corresponding about nitty gritty details of our trip.
Ramesh and Vrinda were extremly helpful to give us the quick tips of what to do and what is not worth ...We spent about 3 hrs with them before heading off to Lake Taupo where we had booked our stay.

Here are few photographs taken in Ramesh and Vrinda's house.



Here is a video taken ....Do they look like they have just completed 11 hr flight couple of hours before....So I think all the apprehensions was in my head and they took full advantage of the opportunity of making new friends....




A noticeable factor all over New Zealnd is the existence of Trampoline...
It seems to be a add on everywhere ....every motel/hotel/mall seems to mention that it had a trampoline.