The time difference is a bit of a shock to the system, but it is all good, everyone seems excited about what lies ahead.

On the plane I was fortunate enough to get a row of 3 seats to myself.
Now will someone please ask Air NZ why the arm rests don't fold all the way up, instead of a nice lie down sleep i ended up with more of an awkward twisted mess...

So anyway I had a chat with John who was sitting across from me. John is from Tuatara Club (Whakatane).

Several of John's whanau have represented New Zealand in Softball, Rugby and Waka Ama, and John said he has never been overseas to see any of them compete, and now was as good-a-time as any.

Hows that for support, flying halfway around the world, just to see your whanau compete, Good on ya John, I hope they appreciate the effort you have made.

Now back to the airport, first thing Lara does is try to kill us. We pull out of the car park in the rental car onto the NZ side of the road, and find ourselves driving headfirst into 3 lanes of oncoming traffic, yeeha!!! You only make that mistake once...

So anyway, that's a wrap for today, I will try and get down to the canoe blessing tomorrow, its at 6am (1am NZ time)

(Lucky for me, my 18month old son has been helping me prepare for the trip, by waking us up at 1am on regular occasion)