A Grand Adventure

...that I leave for New Zealand! I am surprisingly organized and ready to go, a few last minute details to tie up and a few more sad goodbyes. My emotions alternate between excitement and uncertainty, but I know last minute jitters are normal. There's no turning back now!

My flight leaves LAX tonight at 11pm. Then I go to sleep and when I awake 12 hours later the plane will be landing in Auckland. How easy is that? Then a short 1 hour and 50 minute flight from Aukland over the Southern Alps to Queenstown. Here is one person's description of the breattaking descent, "The New Zealand adventure begins as the plane descends into Queenstown. You are aware you are flying into a valley and there is a wall straight ahead of you. You wait. You wait. You hold your breath. The plane takes a wicked banking and you zoom over a plateau and land in a whoosh. Welcome to Queenstown..." (Joanne Faries, Adventure in Queenstown, New Zealand) I'll let you know how that goes and if it is as spectacular as it sounds!!

Once I arrive in Queenstown I'm not sure what will happen. I plan on meeting the Bowman's whom I'll be staying with initially, however, they have not given me an exact meeting time or location. They live on a ranch in Gore approximately 60 miles north of the southern boarder of NZ, so I'm planning for it to be a bit chilly. It is about a 1 1/4 hour drive from Queenstown. I don't want to seem too paranoid, so I'm just going to trust that we will meet up somehow! If not, Queenstown looks like an amazing place to be stranded.

This concludes my first travel blog entry. Hopefully there will be many more over the next 6 months! Be sure to check back now and then.

With love,
Megan