The First 2 Days....

It's Friday 10pm and we arrived yesterday at 2pm - so what's happened?!

Well... are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.... (if this post stops abruptly then I have probably fallen asleep - jet lag rampant in this apartment). Flight from LHR to Singapore (12 hrs) was pretty uneventful - we got to LHR super-early and were FIRST in the check in queue and got great seats (the ones that are just 2 across at the back - so worth the long wait in departures... Singapore Air was v. impressive - excellent service / food / inflight entertainment (40 on-demand movies!!).

Met Sandra from ENZ Forum at Singapore Airport! How cool was that! My chat up line was "are you waiting for someone?" as we obviously hadn't a clue what Sandra looked like!! I went for a shower and a massage (which was FAB and CHEAP) and then we met up and smoked ourselves stupid in the sunflower garden - had to get the nicotine levels up ready for the next 8 hr marathon.... Singapore to Auckland flight was mainly spent catching up on sleep as we didn't manage to get any on the first leg - taking the "elephant" pills the doc gave us sent us off to the land of nod IMMEDIATELY and we slept for 5 hours Not long after Sandra came and found us and we started on the wine (amused the hostess that we wanted wine with our brekkie!!) - chinwagged ALL the rest of the way - a mixture of excitement and worry.

Once arrived we had the final obstacle ... immigration! It was so easy - we even chatted with the officer for a bit after he stamped our passports etc... The three of us waited together at Auckland aiport as we had domestic flights to catch....(Sandra was heading for Palmerston North on the North Island) and then finally the last leg of the journey .. to Chch... I was almost on my knees with exhaustion but when we saw Nicky from ENZ Forum (and my gorgeous bunch of flowers ) we really perked up...

Now Nicky - what a star - if you are heading down to this neck of the woods make SURE you get in touch with Kiwi from the ENZ Forum (aka Nicky) - seriously, the info and advice was invaluable, the pick-up at the airport a life-saver and the stop off at the supermarket an eye-opener! Nicky is such a lovely lovely person too.. and we hit it off immediately - I don't think we stopped talking and laughing from the moment we met to the moment she dropped us at the apartment... and we have been phoning and texting since too!!

(Just had to pause to get some Red Bull down me and nipped outside for a fag (that's a cigarette to all our American friends... better clear that up pronto!!!!))

We arrived at the apartment at about 4pm and dumped our cases and then checked out the coffee shop a few doors down. We are on the seafront in Sumner and it is lovely, really lovely, and that's in the RAIN... haven't seen the sun here yet but it's rumoured to be in the vicinity! We can see the sea from the lounge and bedroom... gorgeous. After our coffee we went for a quick walk around the local area, we were practically sleep walking but wanted to stay awake until later in the evening to try and get our bodies into the right timezone!

Great local shops - restaurants, cafes, a dairy, a bakery, a cinema (tiny one!), hardware store, surf shops, garage, newsagent, 7/11, library... just about everything you could need! Regular bus into town too.... Bought a take away curry ( yep, even here! ) and then back to apartment and, despite all our efforts at staying awake, we had to go to bed at 8pm, we just couldn't stay awake any longer!!

Our Sumner apartment.....