We arrived in Auckland around 5:30 am.   I left the plane and went straight to the restroom.  Auckland’s airport was beautiful.  Everything in the restroom was spotless.  Steph and I had a pretty easy time getting through customs.  Luckily our luggage arrived in great condition.  Amanda, Steph’s little sister, met us at the airport.  Amanda has spent the last 6 months living and working in New Zealand as an au pair or in other words a nanny. 

Amanda had gotten up bright and early at 4:30 am to meet us their accompanied by her Canadian friend Kristin.  We dropped Kristin at her dorm at Laidlaw College in Henderson.  She is studying abroad completing her junior year as a Neural Physiology major.

We then left to Mairangi Bay were Amanda lives (the North shore of Auckland).  Amanda lives with the family she nannies for.  The house is beautiful and rustic.  Most houses in New Zealand don’t have central heating and cooling.  They used space heaters during the winter.  New Zealand whether is very moderate, never getting too cold or to hot.  The Hohaia family was very pleasant and welcoming.  We had toast and coffee with the mother, Lee, and her two boys, Logan and Mitchell.  They are 8 and 11.  Mitchell woke up with scuff on his legs from yesterday Rugby game.  He smiled and giggled a bit when I pointed it out to him.  He was a cute blond boy with dimples.  Logan was a tall slender young man with a rugby shirt on.  He spoke to me about his recent read “Harry Potter.”  Every child’s favorite!  The father, Steve, came out and greeted us all and played with his sons a bit before he went off to work.  He is a sergeant for New Zealand Police Department.

We didn’t stay more then an hour at the house.  I took a shower to wake myself a bit.  The jet lag was getting to me a bit but I didn’t want to waste a perfectly good day catching up on sleep.   We left on our first journey to Hot Water Beach in the Coromandeo.  The Coromandeo is southeast of Auckland New Zealand.