We have arrived

Thames, North Island, New Zealand

We're here, in New Zealand, and we might even have cracked the jetlag.  Today is Sunday, 8th February.  We landed in Auckland at 8am local time, which was about 7pm Friday UK time.  In total we were travelling for about 30 hours, which wierdly included two nights as we "fast-forwarded" through the days going eastwards.

Here we are getting on the first flight, from Newcastle

And here's Thomas and Kitty eating the first of many aeroplane meals!

Here's a summary of our mammoth journey:

• Left Newcastle airport at 1310 on Thursday, arrived in Dubai six hours later where the local time was about 1am
• Left Dubai two hours later on a ten hour flight to Perth, arriving at about 6pm local time
• Left Perth at 8.30pm (local time), arrived Auckland, New Zealand, six hours later where the local time was 8am.

We were met at the airport by Vicky's friend Niel, who took us back to his house and family where they kept us awake until 6pm by showing us around Thames, where they live, and taking us swimming in an amazing river pool

By 6pm we were all completely shattered, and falling asleep in our chairs, so went to bed and slept for 12 hours solid!
Today (Sunday) we're going to drive up to Coromandel peninsula, and make some plans for the rest of our time on North Island.

Vicky, Mike, Thomas and Kitty xx