Arrival in Middle-earth

As I write this, I can only echo Dan's thoughts on traveling huge distances in relatively short times. I can tell myself that yes, I am indeed in New Zealand, faraway from all that is familiar. But as far as really knowing and owning that, I still have some work to do.

Well, Dan left off in LAX, so we have some catching up to do. After a nice layover in Los Angles, we boarded a Qantas Airlines 747 for our 15-hour flight into Sydney, Australia. Fortunately, Qantas Airlines treated us well, serving a full dinner and breakfast and providing individual screens for on-demand entertainment.  However, even several movies and television programs could not distract me from the reality of being on an airplane for 15 hours, which will inevitably become uncomfortable for one's back end. Oddly enough, neither Dan nor myself felt too bad as we neared the end of the flight. Fortunately, we are both able to sleep reasonably well on airplanes. Shortly after sunrise we were able to spot the coast of Australia in the distance, and in short order we landed in Sydney.

We enjoyed our short layover in Sydney, taking the opportunity to walk, lunge and otherwise stretch our poor lower halves.

Feeling rejuvenated after stretching and contacting our families via Skype, Dan and I boarded our last flight, a short 2:30 hour jaunt that would take us into Auckland New Zealand. To our utter surprise and delight, this airplane had TV screens, and a full lunch! Comparing this to the lack of a meal or in-flight entertainment on our 5 hour flight from Charlotte to LA, and you can see how much more awesome the non-US airlines are.

In no time at all, or so it seemed after our really long flight, we arrived in Auckland, New Zealand. The excitement of arriving in New Zealand was slightly muted by a growing dread of going through New Zealand customs and immigration. Apparently, because New Zealand is a isolated island in the middle of no where, they are very careful about what things they let in.

My fears where unnecessary, as Dan and I collected our bags and made it through customs in short order, finding that the customs agents were really quite reasonable and friendly. We just had to make sure and tell them about anything that might be suspect. Then, for the first time in many hours, we were able to step outside and breath some fresh air. The last leg of our journey was a bus ride (a few buses actually) to Tauranga. To our surprise, we actually met up with one of our fellow DTS students going the same way as us. His name was Mitch, and the story of his very challenging journey from Vancouver made us feel quite blessed for our complication free travel.

Anyway, by the time we boarded our second bus it was nearly dark (remember, it's winter here), and the drowsiness set in. A nice nap, and several hour later, we arrived in Tauranga where we were promptly picked up by two Marine Reach staff members.

The next couple hours were a blur, full of meeting new people, seeing new things, and touring around the base.  Needless to say, we slept soundly that night.

Despite the fact that Sunday dawned both overcast and rainy, Dan and I both rose relatively early, in time for church in fact. We had several local churches to choose from, and ended up attending one called Changepoint church, located in Tauranga very near the base. It was a lively church, with contemporary worship music, and two engaging American pastors. For the next few weeks, we'll get to check out a few different churches in the area to see which we like best.

The rest of the day unfolded slowly, allowing everyone to relax a bit. Despite the rain, Dan and I went hiking down into the valley to see the waterfall. Though I’m sure it is normally beautiful, with all the extra water from the rain it was simply spectacular.

We finished the day up with delicious enchiladas (they do cook Mexican food here!), and two very exciting games of Mafia. 

With that, our travel was done and we had begun to settle in to our beautiful new home, with no doubt that our adventure was only just beginning.