Arriving in Auckland, New Zealand After 3 hours of Plane ride

December 28, 2010 - Auckland Airport Arrival @ 6PM local time...

Our 3 hour plane ride from Sydney to Auckland seemed a lot shorter compared to our previous connection... We landed in Auckland International Airport and went through customs.

 After arriving in Auckland, we proceeded to the Immigration & customs check, since we declared that we were carrying packaged Salami Sausage, our bags were inspected for any additonal foods or other items. Our Salami Sausage, present for my sister, was inspected, the label read and re-read, plus x-rayed.  Guess, DO NOT bring any kind of foods into New Zealand or Australia if you are traveling there. After clearing customs, we checked out our suitcases and we waited in the terminal stops for the shuttle to take us to the Domestic Airport.

 Upon arriving at the Domestic Airport, we checked for our flight and gate, our suitcases had to be checked in again, screened our boarding passes issued.

 Our Flight was delayed for 1 hour, so I went on the internet Cafe and logged on to Facebook to just let everyone know we arrived safely in New Zealand. Little did we know that our next 50 min flight to Napier would become perhaps the most thrilling ride throughout this trip.

 This is our plane from Auckland to Napier, a twin engine jet plane, 15 rows and 2 seats on both sides of the plane. The passengers seemed to sound just like the Australians but with a little harder accent... This ride was ROUGH! It was like riding colussus at Magic Mountain, everyone's head were bobbing up and down and sideways and anyways - we were almost ready to DIE...

We arrived at Napier Airport around 10PM, being the last flight of the day. After our flight we were glad to be back on land.  My sister, niece and their partners greeted us. Our trip to my sister's house in Hastings took another 40 mins.

Arriving at Sydney - Airline Travel crossing the International Dateline..

December 28, 2010 @ 5:58AM...

 Arriving in Sydney Airport after 14 hours of flight, we arrived at 5AM local time...

Sydney was our port of entry since there are no direct flights to New Zealand from the US. The International terminal was designed for everyone's comfort and shopping, they had several duty free shops selling most of what we can buy from America, their rate of exchange is $1.20 per $1AUD... better shop in the main City if you want to buy in-expensive souvenirs..

 Sandy going through the terminal waiting area at the Sydney international airport... quite a long walk...

 The Duty Free shop offers mostly American products but at a higher cost since it is all imported to Australia..

 Sandy & i busied ourselves with shopping since we had 6 hours of lay over, they had plenty of places to eat and lie around, couches that are designed for weary travelers needing to lie down or nap while waiting for their connecting flights.

 The stuffed Koala bear I was holding in my hands cost $75 AUD (equivalent to $105USD), whew, that was scary, yet cute for a picture taking.

Sandy lounging around the Cafe waiting area, time went by fast, its like shopping in the malls...

Leaving from Moreno Valley to Sydney Australia

December 26, 2010

We woke very early to start our last day preparing for our trip to New Zealand, Here Sandy is still asleep and I'm beginning to pack, don't worry, Sandy has already packed her suitcase a week before.

Sandy's suitcase has been packed 1 week before the trip, she was all set and ready to go..

I guess when you are running around last minute, you have a tendency to get messy in the bathroom...

This is my suitcase, all neatly packed, but wait have I forgotten anything?

Vanessa, Tyler, Benjamin. Tiffany and Cj came to see us off, since Vanessa and Tyler were dropping us off, we had to say goodbye's at home, we couldn't all fit in the car...

Leaving for our NZ trip, we flew VAustralia, it was somewhat amazing and unexpected... check-in was a breeze, all they had to do was scan our passports and printed our boarding passes, maximum allowed weight per passenger is 32Kilos=50lbs. TSA screening was a bit exasperating, my laptop had to be re-screened because I made a mistake of putting my jacket on top of the pc, other than that, it was a breeze also. Here is a tip, make sure you give at least 3-4 hours before departure.