Day 1 - Getting There

Day 1 consists of 3 dates, September 29, 30 and October 1st.   We left Hemet at 6:30 PM on the 29th of September for LAX as our flight was scheduled to depart at 11:40PM. 
Waiting at LAX
The flight was a little late leaving but we pulled away from the gate at 12:30AM on the 30th of November.  The flight was scheduled for 13 ½ hours and due to the hour we thought we would be able to sleep most of the flight.  Wrong!!!  We were jammed in.  The seats were so small we could not get comfortable, much less get any sleep.  As a result I got in 3 short naps of about 45 minutes each before discomfort work me up.  Kathy did a little better but not much.  The one good aspect of the flight is that the flight crew made up the lost time and the actually flying time was only 12 ½ hours.  Whoppee.
Prior to landing in Auckland we crossed the International dateline which made it October 1st.  It was 9:00AM local time when we were finally able to leave the plane and head for customs.  We cleared customs a couple of hours later and headed for the shuttle to take us to the hotel. 
The temperature was around 50 degrees F and raining but who cares we are in New Zealand. 
The rest of the day was uneventful as we were pretty tired.  After checking in we went for a walk and had a bit of lunch before heading back to the hotel for a nap.  The evening consisted of a walk before dinner which we had in the room.  A movie followed before we shut off the light and ended our first day in New Zealand. 
Pictures of Auckland from Hotel Room.
The adventure has begun.