ADVENTURE BEGINS

Welcome to our New Zealand Adventure Blog!  The Woods Family (Rob, Erin, Jonah and Naysa) arrived in early August 2016, which is New Zealand's 'winter' and plan to stay until June or July 2017.  We are based in Auckland, but plan to explore everything New Zealand has to offer. For a family that still does not have a Facebook account, this blog is a bit of a stretch for us, but we wanted to make sure our friends and family could share in our adventure. Hope you enjoy it!

We spent three quick days in Vancouver and this is us at the International Airport awaiting our departure.  Naysa was the only one who successfully got us all in the selfie!!

The 14hour flight was uneventful as there were plenty of movies to watch and food to eat. We love Air New Zealand!  They almost did not let Jonah on the plane as his Real Madrid soccer jersey is sponsored by Emirates Airlines.

This is where we stayed for 3 weeks courtesy of Waitemata District Health Board while we looked for a more permanent place to stay for the year.  When we walked in Naysa's first words were 'There is an upstairs I presume!'  No there was not, but we did have two bedrooms and a kitchenette.  It was novel at first but once school and work started and the pencils/books/bags/newsletters/lunch kits starting piling up we quickly felt crowded!  And you can't really unpack a year's worth of clothes into a hotel room.  Good thing Naysa and Jonah aren't yet teenagers who crave their privacy...as they had to share a bedroom.

What have we learned about New Zealand so far...they don't have central heating in their houses! Yes the winter is mild, but man it is cold at night!  They have space heaters instead.  We always had ours cranked to the max and used many blankets to stay warm.  Rob wore his hat to bed only once.

The hotel is only half a block to Takapuna Beach, with a brand new playground and access to explore some lava beaches.  There are always people out running and walking their dogs.  It looks out onto the iconic Rangitoto Island.  The sunrise picture at the top of the blog is Rangitoto sunrise viewed from Takapuna Beach.