A Long Flight Finished

We got on the plane in Saskatoon, and flew directly to Vancouver - the trade off for no touch down in Calgary being a very small plane with no room in the overhead storage for carry ons. Sister Lil and her husband John came out to the airport and visited us on our layover there, then we caught our next long flight to Auckland. The 14 hours in the air flew by due to an entertaining flight safety video (see it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f1awn9vBZE ), lots of movies, several jaunts around the plane, and wine included both with dinner and with breakfast (sparkling wine being the appropriate breakfast drink).
On arrival in Auckland we looked after phones, rented a car, and drove to Raglan. Dave is getting good at driving on the other side of the road, and only did a few North American salutes (turning on the wind shield wipers instead of the turn signal). We drove through some lovely country, saw sheep, tree ferns, and not too much traffic.
On arrival in Raglan we found a sign on the door of the "Enquiries" that said "Gone to the park, back soon". So we went for a drink and then returned. We showered and had a two hour nap, and then carried on.
Raglan is a nice little oceanside community, reminiscent of Waskesiu - lots of cafes, some artsy/crafty stores, and a few clothing shops. The main attraction at the beach is jumping off the pedestrian bridge on the way over. This was the first time the little girl there made the jump - and she loved it and kept running back to do it again. The sand at the beach is black, so that it looks like the people are playing in mud. But they stand up and brush it off. We wondered around the town and the beach and enjoyed no parka, toque, scarf, mitts and boots - sandals and tee-shirts are much more fun.
Dave had his favourite green lipped mussels for dinner and is a happy man.