Flying to New Zealand...all day

This morning we woke up to get ready for our long day of flying!

We had a shuttle pick us up and take us to the airport.  This day is going to be rather uneventful since all we are doing is flying the whole time, but at the end of it - we will have made it to New Zealand.

Our first flight brought us to Melbourne. This airport was so fancy. Tons of nice duty free items and shops. They even have a Victoria's Secret here. We've been flying Quantas again so that's always nice.  Melbourne looks rainy and drizly outside but it is not 100 degrees so it's kind of fun to have a little change. Auckland, New Zealand seems nice but it's midnight and a little hard to tell :)

All of our flights were pretty nice. I had time to watch all of the kid movies I've been wanting to see: Brave, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dog Days, and The Muppets. Plus a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother.  We arrived in New Zealand and now we are just hanging out in the airport for a few hours before connecting to Christchurch on the South Island.

We are so excited for NZ but I can't believe we have already left Australia.  We had a fantastic time but it just went so quickly. I think we did a great job of packing the quintessential Aussie experiences into our short trip. We explored Sydney, the Opera House and the Bridge, the snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, and the road less traveled to the Red Center of the Outback which was so awesome, and we have met (or reconnected with) some really great people. Those are the things I think of when I think of Australia.  While we didn't ever have "Shrimp on the Barbie", everything else we ate was plenty delicious and I can leave happy. Of the 16 counties I've now been to, I've been lucky enough to have experienced 8 of them with Mesa. I can't wait to now go out and see what New Zealand can share with us.  Look out South Island, you're about to have some ambitious, inquisitive, and energetic travelers!

Now off to find a quiet place to settle before making our way to the domestic transfers in a few hours.