Good morning or good afternoon from Wanaka, New Zealand!    

Joan and I left Scottsdale on Tuesday May 24 and arrived May 26 in Queensland where Dan was waiting for us to drive us to Wanaka where we will be staying for the next three months.  Dan and Annie rented a home just two miles from theirs.   Very very convenient.  We got settled in, went to his house for lunch and then drove to the kids school and for the first time in more than two years were able to hug and kiss our three beautiful grandkids.  What a delight.

We were very fortunate that our three flights all left on time.  Joan had built in enough time between each flight so there was very little stress between flights.   All was well until we arrived in Auckland where the machine that is used to removed the luggage from the plane broke down and we waited about 40 minutes to finally retrieve our bags.   Then the fun began as we needed to clear customs and place our baggage on the final plane.  This procedure involved putting the bags through security twice, being delayed by a scanner that didn’t want to work, taking a long bus ride to another terminal, and finally finding our gate with just a few minutes to spare.   The final fight was stunningly beautiful from Auckland to Queenstown.  There had been a recent snow storm, the first of the year, and the continuous mountain ranges were magnificent!    I will post some photos taken from the plane.   The view was only a prequel of the many views in Wanaka.   The views out our windows are stunning.  So far it has been very sunny but cold.   Rain is arriving the coming week with more snow in the mountains.

At this time of the year it is getting dark at 5PM and light at 8AM.  For those who have forgotten their geography it’s winter in the far south while summer in the US.  We will have temperatures in the 30’s and 40’s for our entire stay.  A big change for us but a pleasant change, I hope.

Joan and I are a real mess on our sleep but hope to be normalized soon.  Since we are 19 hours ahead of Mountain Stand Time this is going to take a while.  Example: I was asleep on the couch at 5:30 last evening.   Slept about 12 hours and I’m still tired.   

That’s it for now but more tomorrow, I hope. I’m too tired to be my usual corny self but I will be back on form soon.

Gene