We Made It - First post from New Zealand.

Well, 11,492 km and fourteen and half hours later we made it safely to New Zealand. It is amazing the distance one can travel in such a short time. The speed was Mach 0.83 or about 850 km per hour at about 10 - 11 km in the air with temperatures of - 51 degrees Celsius. What wonderful machines these planes are, flying 14 hours non-stop in such conditions carrying 300 people this far.

As I was sittings there falling asleep while the plane was bobbing around in the turbulent air, I was wondering how long it took Captain Francis Drake, Captain Cook and the like to make the trip across the Pacific. However long it was it was quite an adventure. Now the travel is so easy and so common that one takes it for granted - it's really no big deal. I remember when we made our first long trip in an airplane from Amsterdam to Montreal when our family emigrated to Canada. When we landed everyone cheered and applauded, I think at that time trips like this were special, now it is common. It will probably not be long and we will be able to make trips to space and not think twice about it - what do you think?

I was quite worried about the fourteen plus hours on the plane. About an hour after we took off we were served a meal. We all chose the curried chicken and rice. I actually enjoyed the meal. After that I watched an episode of Top Gear UK - 50 Years of James Bond Cars. Before we left we purchased these long pillows and so I warped it around my neck and relaxed to see if I will fall asleep - I usually have trouble sleeping in the plane. I did drift off and every now and then when my neck or legs were getting sore I changed position. When I got up to go to the loo, the steward told me we only have three and half hours left. What a relief, what felt like a couple of hours of turning around in my seat ended up as seven hours of sleep - not bad at all.

As I am writing this, we are on the last leg to our destination. Right now we are almost half way between Auckland and Christchurch. Phillip just pulled out his Physics 12 textbook and notebook to do a bit of school work. Both Michael and Phillip are missing eight days of school and they will have to do a bit of work to stay in the loop.

After we land it will be nice to get our home on wheels, find a campground and take a nice shower.

We just started our descent to Christchurch. I will have to wait until we get to a hotspot to post this. There is no picture for now but we will do an update later.