Panda

Well, I've officially traveled overseas for the first time! I'm posting this from a motel in Christchurch on a very cold, rainy morning.

We flew out from Coffs Harbour yesterday morning on a (very) small plane to Sydney. For most of us, it was our first time flying (that we remember) and was amazing! Looking out over the clouds, seeing all the tiny cars and houses... Spectacular!

Arriving at Sydney, we collected our baggage and made our way, via bus, to the international terminal. We checked in our bags again, then spent time looking around what we thought was a not-very-big airport... Once we had dinner, we went through security and found the other half of the terminal :)
The plane from Sydney to Christchurch was, thankfully, bigger, with computer screens built into the back of each headrest. Unfortunately my computer kept rebooting during the flight, it seems Air New Zealand runs Linux... We were able to watch movies, listen to music (Il Divo!) and play games. We were served Chicken Cordon-Bleu for dinner, with a chocolate pudding for dessert. Three hours later we touched down in Christchurch, New Zealand!

We made our way through the airport, found and collected our baggage, then went through customs. Luckily we made it through without being attacked by sniffer dogs or people snapping on rubber gloves. We met up with Mum and Dad (who had just flown in from Brisbane), and after picking up our two, very nice rental cars, succeeded in getting lost on our way to the motel at 1:00am NZ time. We did eventually find the motel, and promptly fell asleep with heaters and electric blankets on.

Today, we'll be exploring Christchurch. Stay tuned!