We Made It!

Technically, the credit goes to Air New Zealand, but we made it to Auckland and have been exploring the city and surroundings for the last 48 hours.

Our first "day" really started back in Portland, encompassed our mid-afternoon departure, overnight flight to Auckland and then a pretty full day of exploration before we could get fully settled in our hotel.  That was one loooonnnnngggg day! Lucas and Walter performed admirably under the conditions.  We had multiple factors that could have lead to unhappy campers: fatigue, intermittent boredom during a 14 hour flight, parental restraint on in flight movie choices, uncomfortable seats, 7+ hours of immediate adjacency to your brother, minimal in-flight sleep, unhealthy food intake, waiting through travel logistics, more fatigue, tight flight connections, partial information technology woes, realization of items forgotten at home, moderate humidity, and a little more fatigue.  Despite all of that, they held it together, stayed positive, helped out, and peacefully co-existed for the most part.

Despite just scratching the surface, we have enjoyed Auckland.  Lucas has declared himself to be a city boy (he may re-think that proclamation once we get into the mountains).  We have checked out a few obligatory tourist things like going 60 stories up into the Sky Tower (the space needle equivalent) and taking a ferry out to Waiheke Island (the San Juan Island equivalent).  The city is quite multi-cultural with lots of Pacific Islanders, lots of Asians - Chinese and Indians in particular.  The pace is Portland-like and relaxed.  People are refined and polished when compared with the Morton family.

Photos coming ....