April 11: From Reddingmuirhead to Mount Wellington (I)

Aidan and Megan have travelled in in three cars, three aeroplanes and a bus. They have travelled through numerous time zones and crossed the International Date Line. Thirty-two hours after leaving home, they finally reached their destination - Nan and Grandad's house in Mount Wellington, Auckland, New Zealand.

It was Megan's first ever flight on an aeroplane, and Aidan's first for a year or so, and both children were enthralled by the experience - watching Aidan's expressions as we took off and landed was wonderful, he loved it! Despite the length of the journey, Aidan and Megan coped really well (mostly!) and even managed to sleep for a reasonable amount of the Los Angeles to Auckland leg of the journey.

We arrived in Auckland at 0500, and made it through Immigration and Customs by 0600, and Megan then met Nan and Grandad (Daddy's parents) for the very first time, and Aidan for the first time in just over 18 months.

After some breakfast and time to recover at Nan and Grandad's house, we went to the beach at Mission Bay. The kids had a wonderful time playing on the beach - Aidan collected dry seaweed, and then used it to make a nest for some pigeons in the crook of a tree, and Megan had a great time walking along the sea wall (think she's been missing Tumbletots) and chasing the pigeons.

They also loved playing at a wonderful play area, which had slides and tunnels on two levels to crawl through. While Megan was on the swings, she "counted" to ten along with Mummy for the first time - the sounds she made weren't quite right, but she was definitely attempting to count!

A quieter afternoon followed, with naptime for the children, and then a little more time to play, before tea and bed.

Wednesday has been a busy day, with a trip to Cornwall Park in the morning. Aidan had great fun playing in a Moreton Bay Fig tree - which has huge roots, many of which are above the ground - he made another nest, out of pine needles this time. Megan found some more birds to run around after, which she thought was great fun, and also walked up some steps without holding on to anything for the first time - clever girl!

Then it was time to go to meet Aunty Heather and Uncle Martin for the first time. We had a lovely lunch with them, before heading back to Nan and Grandad's for a quieter afternoon. Both Aidan and Megan are still pretty exhausted, so went to bed early in preparation for another exciting day out tomorrow...

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