We bid a fond goodbye to our wonderful Australian guide Susan, and boarded our flight to Christchurch, New Zealand.

The Sydney airport is crazy town!! What a mess!! Our flight was delayed over 45 minutes and then we went on one line, herded into another waiting area, waited there for about 30 minutes, was herded into a bus, and finally arrived at our plane.

The flight was fine, however, three people lost their luggage. Apparently, Qantas deleted their luggage ticket and now they have no clue where the luggage is. Sadly, they had medications that they need as well as cameras in the luggage. This is a wake up reminder. Never, ever put anything you absolutely need in something other than what will be on your person and with you at all times!

We met our new guide Catherine and had a welcome dinner to get acquainted. I had Hoki fish for the first time. It was okay… But I wouldn’t order it again.

Our hotel is lovely and we all were pretty tired from traveling all day, so it was off to bed.

Hoki fish

First glimpse of New Zealand