Day 1: But First, Coffee!

Arrival in Auckland … everything made it in except Dave’s bags ……. had to sort out the paperwork. Then of course we had to clear customs where Dale got pulled aside.

Sniffer dogs everywhere. But they aren’t looking for drugs. New Zealand is very careful about what is brought into the country and Dale’s hiking boots were examined to ensure there was no dirt or spores or anything unexpected that he was bringing into the country. We finally got out of the airport terminal.

Push push push to make the Christchurch connection literally running as airport is under construction. There is this green line and all we kept saying was follow the green line, follow the green line. Each of us having escaped customs at different times. Made it just as they were boarding next leg and then onto Christchurch.

Beautiful city, and the weather held out for us. We dumped our bags at the hotel and to stave off jet leg (at last that was our excuse), we went out shopping for those other absolute essentials like coffee and chocolate.

Wandered the local market. Chilled at lunch with a variety of us eating different things from meat pies, local specialty, to the traditional woodfired pizza as well as pulled pork sandwiches. The group then split up. Suneet, Farid, Tim (our guide) and I went on the coffee quest.

Came back and had the usual gear explosion in the room to sort by activity, check for any small things that anyone was missing. Had an early dinner at the hotel …….tomorrow it begins