[Lara Croft]

:clap

I arrived yesterday evening, am very jet lagged today, and still can't believe I am here..... very surreal! Hubby & son are on their way, but won't be here for weeks.

On the downside, my lovely new internet ready laptop is not workinmg properly, so I've had to find an internet cafe to get to my email.

On the upside.... OMG how stunning it is here! The coast road from Welly up to the kapiti Coast is breathtaking.... the flights here with Emirates (business class) were fab - I definately recommend the upgrade for long haul travelling!

I'll come back to the forum when my laptop problem is sorted out (fingers crossed for me please!).

Jane

[benandclare]

Welcome to NZ :D

[Marco]

Welcome in Wellington!!

Anita

[skibumwa]

Welcome to WINDY Welly!:clap :nice1

[LesleyS]

Welcome to the land of the 'Long White Dloud'

[LesleyS]

Sorry sp mistake 'Cloud"!!!!!!! :laugh

[Brijan]

Welcome to Wellington and your in time to see the pohutakawa's in flower, just the coolest tree ever :nice1

[jackie m]

Welcome Jane

Yes the coastal Drive up to here is to die for especially coming round the bay. Still makes me smile when I see it and think to myself I live here :D
Which area did you settle for in the end?

Jackie x

[dilanium]

glad you had a safe journey!

[dugdug]

Jane,
can you upload a photo of that coastal drive for all of us to enjoy !!

[JoanneG]

Good Luck for your new life, Jane. :raebanana

Keep posting!

[Myrkk]

congrats for making it. Hope the time to when your family comes out flies by

[Lara Croft]

Hi everyone - thanks to you all :-)

At the moment I am staying in Paraparaumu, while I search for somewhere of our own. I'd love to live here in Paraparaumu Beach, but I'm not sure about the daily commute into the city, so we may end up a little further south. We'll see!

I went into the city on the train yesterday, to see what the journey would be like, and oh my it was so beautiful! And yes, flippin' WINDY!!!

The little birds on the station platform (look like clean sparrows) are so very tame, they keep coming up to you looking for crumbs! And the tree that someone mentions, would that be the one with the bright red flowers? It seems to leave a carpet of red underneath - very pretty.

I can't get over the fact that the garden next door has a lemon tree - covered in lemons! It must be a very temperate climate here.

I need to upload my photos, before my camera memory gets full!

Jane

[Dom]

Jane - you say you flew with Emirates. Did you go via Dubai ? As when I looked on their website it seemed you go via Dubai (which sound ok but then the flight from Dubai to Auckland is 20 hours - and we will have a 20 month old with us so not sure we can do that).

Am looking into alternatives to the US route. At the moment Singapore seems the only other logical option.

cheers.

[Lara Croft]

Hi Dom.
Yes I flew Emirates, as I wanted to break up the journey into smaller chunks. It went something like this:

Manchester to Dubai - 6.5 hours
2.5 - 3hrs on the ground in Dubai; change planes

Dubai to Bangkok - 6 hours
1.5 hrs on the ground in Bangkok

Bangkok to Sydney - 9 hours
2hrs on the ground in Sydney

Sydney to Auckland - 3 hours
Then a mad rush (for me) to get through immigration (5 mins tops!!), collect baggage (15 mins), transfer to the domestic terminal (20 mins), find my departure gate (5 mins), go back to find baggage check-in (15 mins - not signposted at all!), and a run back to the departure gate to just make my internal flight. Phew!

I had imagined at Bangkok and Sydney that you could stay on the plane, but no, you get turfed off so that it can be "cleaned". In practice you get off, trundle through the airport to the departures, have your luggaged re-checked and re-x-rayed, and queue up to get back on again. Maybe 15 mins for grabbing a souvenir or making a phone call.

I'd heard horror stories of transiting through LAZ and wanted to avoid it! As long as you don't mind getting off and on the plane again - and I was glad of the chance to have a walk - then this route is good. I've no idea how your little'un would manage though, sorry.

regards,
Jane

[Dom]

OMG that sounds insane !

Think one stopover for a few days will do us ! Singapore or HK are favourite I think.

We'll have to meet up when we get settled in Welly - should be mid-March.

Cheers.

Dom.